SPM 07-20-2019: Hot and Dry Weather Continues

Issue date: Saturday, July 20th, 2019
Issue time: 10:50AM MDT

Summary:

Another day of hot and dry weather over Colorado yesterday, as dry air continued to move in from the west and southwest. Moisture did however increase throughout the afternoon and last night as flow shifted to the south, bringing in moisture from the Baja Peninsula. Brief, very light showers occurred over the far Southeast Plains around midnight last night, with radar deriving up to under 0.1 inches over Baca, Bent and Prowers Counties as a shortwave clipped the area. The main story yesterday was the hot weather, high temperatures were measured in the 100°Fs all across the eastern plains, with a recording of 111°F at Lamar Municipal Airport in Prowers County. The Red Flag Warning over western and norther Colorado has been lifted as moisture moved into the area last night.

For a look at precipitation over your area (72-hours ago), please visit the State Precipitation Map below. Note the rainfall over the far Southeast corner is not shown because totals were under 0.25 inches.

Click Here For Map Overview

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 vulnerable fire burn areas (post 2012), which are updated throughout the season to include new, vulnerable burn areas. The home button in the top left corner resets the map to the original zoom.