Finally, a change in the pattern, and it is great timing as meteorological fall begins tomorrow. This morning, Colorado is sitting between two systems, which can be seen in the visible satellite imagery below. The first is just south, which passed a strong cold front through the state. The 24-hour difference in temperature (6AM) is shown below with the legend on the right-hand side (deg F), so it’s a cool start to the morning for eastern and northwest Colorado. The second system is a strong upper-level trough<\/span>, which will start to push south today (orange “X”). This will bring some cooler temperatures to western Colorado later tonight as well as some overnight rainfall to the mountains.<\/p>\n Northerly surface flow behind the front is forecast to turn southwesterly today over the eastern plains, and the diurnal flow will help produce the first round of scattered<\/span> showers by early afternoon over the Palmer Ridge, Southeast Mountains, and Raton Ridge. Quick, easterly steering flow should move the storms into the adjacent plains with only light to moderate rainfall forecast due to CAPE<\/span> and surface moisture values on the lower end. As the shortwave<\/span> arrives from the north this evening, increasing cloud cover with the system and decreasing instability will limit the convection<\/span> potential over the northern half of the state. However, there’s a good chance it will still trigger some thunderstorms over the Northeast Plains this evening where there will be better surface heating. Otherwise, the system is expected to produce some beneficial, stratiform rainfall over the mountains tonight as it keeps pushing south. Rainfall should be gradual enough that flooding issues should be avoided, so flooding is not expected.<\/p>\n For more information on today’s flood threat, see the map below. If there is a threat, hover over the threat areas for more details, and click on burn areas to learn more about them. For Zone-Specific forecasts, scroll below the threat map.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archive-coftb.dewberryanalytics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/vis_20200831.png\")
<\/p>\nToday’s Flood Threat Map<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archive-coftb.dewberryanalytics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/FTB_No_Flood_Threat_2020.png\")
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