DENVER — Much of the Front Range and eastern Colorado are under a flash flood watch with storms already popping in the Denver metro area and northeastern plains on Friday.
Several rounds of heavy rain are likely through Friday night and Saturday morning, thanks to monsoon moisture fed by the remnants of former Tropical Storm Harold. Not every area will see major rainfall, but there is the potential for some areas to see several inches of rain in brief periods of time that could result in serious flooding.
As of 11 a.m. Friday, showers and thunderstorms were hitting the Interstate 76 corridor, and a few stationary bands of showers had developed in the Denver metro area. The heaviest rain is expected later Friday, the NWS said.
Harold made landfall near South Padre Island, Texas, on Tuesday but quickly broke apart over Mexico about 620 miles south of Colorado. Tropical infusions are not common, but there have been a few examples in the state.
The highest known rainfall total was from an unnamed tropical cyclone that came out of the Pacific Ocean in October of 1911. It dissipated in Arizona, but the remnants brought more than 8 inches (8.16”) of rain to Colorado.
In 1992, Hurricane Lester dissipated in New Mexico near Albuquerque, but the remnants from that storm went on to drop more than 5 inches (5.35”) of rain on Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado.
The story includes previous reporting by Cory Reppenhagen.
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