The only major exception to the calmer weather was in far eastern parts of the state where a few thunderstorms briefly turned severe in Baca and Yuma counties. The former storm was warned for large hail and gusty winds, but not much rainfall. The latter storm produced up to 1.5 inches of rainfall in about an hour over a localized area right along the New Mexico border. Fortunately, no flooding or severe weather reports were officially tallied with these storms, although they occurred over very rural areas with few observers and gages.<\/p>\n
Finally, with the break in the active weather, we take a look at the extremely active period that occurred over the Arkansas River basin over the past 30-45 days. Below is the Arkansas River hydrograph<\/span> at Las Animas. Note that after the spike on July 27, the river has stayed well above normal levels for the better part of 3 weeks. The volume of 30-day rainfall that fell in the area that drains into the gage below is near record levels. Fortuitously and quite surprisingly, the rain was spread out in time just enough to limit major flooding concerns. With the monsoon<\/span> season still in its primetime, we will be carefully watching to see what the next few weeks’ worth of rainfall bring.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archive-coftb.dewberryanalytics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/las_animas_30day.png\")
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