Colorado awoke to “severe clear” skies on this Labor Day morning, meaning there was not a cloud to be seen. For the vast majority of the state, Mother Nature will conveniently provide a sunny holiday. As shown in the water vapor image, below, an upper-level ridge is currently centered over Nevada with Colorado lying under a stream of very dry northwesterly flow around its periphery. With the ridge strengthening over the past 24 hours, expect temperatures to warm this afternoon by 5F or more degrees compared to Sunday. Additionally, some smoke will continue to stream into northern Colorado today, although concentrations are expected to remain relatively low (especially compared to the much more severe events we experienced earlier this summer).<\/p>\n
Moisture levels continue to be very low, with Precipitable Water<\/span> (PW<\/span>) once again below 0.5 inches at Denver and Grand Junction this morning. Higher PW<\/span>, up to 0.8 inches, was estimated over far southeast Colorado. A disturbance racing southeastward out of WY this afternoon will mainly produce some gusty winds over eastern Colorado. However, with weak, modestly moist upslope flow remaining east of the Raton Ridge, an isolated<\/span> thunderstorm cannot be ruled out again for Baca County. But with such a dry boundary layer<\/span>, rainfall will be hard to come by and flooding is NOT expected today.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archive-coftb.dewberryanalytics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/wv_markup-3.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nToday’s Flood Threat Map<\/strong><\/h3>\n