SPM 08-24-2018: Downsloping Winds and General Subsidence Bring an End to the Monsoon Surge

Issue Date: Friday, August 24th, 2018
Issue Time: 09:15 AM MDT

Summary:

There were a few showers to start the morning over the northwest corner of the state. However, downsloping winds and increased subsidence behind the trough on Thursday brought an end to the monsoon surge. This decrease in low-level moisture could be seen in the rapidly dropping dew points, which went from the 50Fs to low 40Fs throughout the day. This contributed to a downtick in afternoon thunderstorm activity; however, some weak storms over southern Colorado still popped up in the afternoon. A bit more low-level moisture remained over this portion of the state as seen in the water vapor imagery from yesterday’s FTB. Again, low dew points and swift steering winds limited the amount of rainfall the storms were able to produce. Max radar estimated 24-hour totals near the Raton Ridge were just under 0.5 inches. To the west, a CoCoRaHS station in southern Dolores County recorded 0.31 inches. Flooding was not reported on Thursday.

To see how much precipitation fell over your area the last 48 to 72 hours, scroll down to the State Precipitation Map below.

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The map below shows radar-estimated, rainfall gage-adjusted Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (QPE) across Colorado. The map is updated daily during the operational season (May 1 – Sep 30) by 11AM. The following six layers are currently available: 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation, as well as maximum 1-hour, 2-hour and 6-hour precipitation over the past 24 hour period (to estimate where flash flooding may have occurred). The 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation contain bias corrections that are not disaggregated into the hourly estimates, so there will likely be some differences. The accumulation ending time is 7AM of the date shown in the bottom right corner. Also shown optionally are fire burn areas (post 2012), which are updated throughout the season to include new burn areas. The home button in the top left corner resets the map to the original zoom.