Quite a punch this storm provided to CO. After severe weather yesterday, lots of thunderstorms and hail last night, then moderate to heavy rain and snow this morning. The moisture was welcome relief to many parts of the foothills and Plains that have been very dry, especially southeast CO. I received 2 inches of very wet and havy snow at 9300 ft on Conifer Mtn, which was not very appreciated by the flowers and Aspen trees that were sagging under all the weight.
Models indicate that our bout with moisture will be short lived, and we will return to our warm and dry pattern starting Tuesday, and should continue through the coming weekend. Upper ridge along the West Coast will build back into the Inter-Mountain region this week to bring temps back to and above seasonal norms, and limit any additional moisture to isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms later this week. Long range models build a very strong upper ridge over CO next week which would put temps well above seasonal norms and keep things quite dry as well. At this time there is no indication the North American Monsoon will be starting anytime in the next 7-10 days, so it will likely wait until July which is normal. Hopefully our brief but abundant moisture will keep things green and reduce fire danger for a little while, but it appears the fire danger will be back to high levels by later this week and next week.
Take your pick today and tomorrow as to what kind of weather you want to experience, and you might. Currently Colorado has Tornado Watch and Warnings, a Winter Weather Advisory, Flood Watches and Warnings, and a Red Flag Warning in place. Severe weather currently in progress across the northeast Plains with a tornado watch in place for most of eastern CO through 9 pm, and some tornado warnings currently in effect across extreme northeast CO. Showers and thunderstorms likely across the foothills and adjacent Plains into tonight. As a vigorous upper trough moves from northeast UT across CO tonight and Monday, showers and thunderstorms will persist overnight and into Monday across much of CO. Upper trough will also bring much cooler temps, with snow possible above 10,000-11,000 ft tonight and Monday morning, which has prompted the NWS to issue a Winter Weather Advisory for the central and northern mountains above 10,000 ft through 6 pm Monday for 2-6 inches of snow. This could cause some serious travel issues tonight and Monday morning with snow surprising many motorists and truckers that may not be familiar with winter driving conditions. So I-70 could have some delays and closures at times through Monday afternoon. This system should provide some much needed precipitation to the foothills and Plains, with some heavy showers and thunderstorms at times tonight into Monday afternoon, with between 0.50 and 1.0 inches of precip possible. Some minor flash flooding is also a possibility in heavy downpours.
The upper trough is expected to move east of CO by Monday evening bringing an end to precip. The rest of the week will have warmer temps to near seasonal norms and mostly dry conditions, with only isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms by the latter half of the week.
Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!