Tropical Moisture Will Bring Heavy to Excessive Rainfall with Possible Flooding This Week

Tropical moisture from the remnants of Odalys and Hurricane Polo will surge over the southwest into the central U.S. this week with several days of heavy to excessive rainfall which may bring limited to considerable flooding. Flood Watches have been issued through Wednesday in the southwest U.S. and moderate risk outlooks have been issued today through Thursday. Read More >

Rain Showers Today

Midweek Storm System

Potentially Heavy Rain Wednesday - Wed Night

Today our area will see scattered to numerous afternoon showers and a few weak storms as Pacific moisture increases for our area. Expect a few hundredths to about 1/2 inch of rainfall. Some localized amounts up to 1 inch are possible with any stronger storms. Otherwise, temperatures will be near average- in the mid 70s for the plains. Rain chances continue through the overnight, especially for our eastern plains.

There still remains high uncertainty for the midweek storm system. As of now, the greatest impacts are progged for Tuesday evening through Thursday morning for the southern Colorado plains. An upper-level trough is on track to move in from the west and combine with the remnants of Hurricane Polo from the Pacific. This will bring prolonged rainfall chances to Colorado through Thursday. Modeling is split between two scenarios- a southern track and a northern track of the upper level low. A southern track would keep the heaviest rainfall confined to far southern portions of our area and into SE Colorado. A northern track would bring the axis of heavier rainfall over a larger portion of our area. There is slowly increasing confidence for heavy rainfall and isolated instances of flooding across our southeastern forecast area. Note that any subtle shifts in the upper level low track will lead to large differences in rainfall totals. Regardless of which scenario plays out, we expect a sharp cutoff in rainfall somewhere across our area or just to the south.

[Updated 3am 9/28 with latest outlook] Heavy rain and localized flooding will be possible by from late Tuesday through early Thursday over portions of southern and eastern Colorado. Hurricane Polo, currently in the eastern Tropical Pacific, is expected to join up with a storm system moving into the southwest United States. As the remnants of the hurricane move into the Southern Rockies, heavy rainfall will occur. However, there's still uncertainty into the exact track of these remnants. If it tracks further north, then locally heavy rain would be possible as far north as Denver metro, but a southern track would keep the heaviest precipitation confined to southeastern Colorado. Bottom line, stay tuned for the latest updates as this storm system approaches our area.

Tropical Moisture Will Bring Heavy to Excessive Rainfall with Possible Flooding This Week

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