Colorado Climate Center

Explore these maps yourself at climate.colostate.edu/maps/precip_...

map of monthly precipitation totals zoomed in on the Denver metro area for July 2025. There are some pale greenish dots that indicate much less than 1 inch of rain, and some dark blue ones indicating 3 or more inches around the area.

July rainfall had some huge variations across the Denver metro area. From downtown southward to Littleton, many stations with less than 0.25" for the month. But over 2.5" in parts of Aurora and Centennial. Thanks to all the CoCoRaHS observers for enabling such a detailed map! #cowx

Another view of the earlier tornado near Westcliffe! A rare 8,000’+ twister.

Also the first tornado in Custer County since 2019, per @coloradoclimate.bsky.social

📸: Laura LeQuesne

#COwx

Custer County is not a typical place for overlapping tornado and flash flood warnings! A tornado was observed southwest of Westcliffe this afternoon. The tornado warning has since expired, but the flash flood warning continues.

It's the first tornado report in Custer County since 2019. #cowx

Colorado's peak flash flood season - Colorado Climate Blog It’s been called the “summer of flash flooding” in the US. The worst was the tragic flooding in Texas Hill Country on July 4, which took over 135 lives. But there have also been significant flash floo...

It's been the 'summer of flash floods' in the US, but there hasn't been much in Colorado so far. However, it's the last week in July, which is historically the peak in flash flooding across the state, and right on schedule, there will be a risk later this week. More in our latest blog post.👇 #cowx

Heat and Humidity - Colorado Climate Blog Frog in a rain gauge with condensation. Photo credit: Chris Johns. Stop me if you have heard this one before: “Last summer I visited [insert east coast state here]. It was 98 degrees and 98% humidity....

New blog post on heat and humidity: no, even if you visited a humid place, you didn't experience 98°F and 98% humidity. That is not a thing that happens.

But read on for some of the nuances of humidity measurements, and what they say about how humid it feels at different times and locations.

US Drought Monitor for Colorado for July 15, 2025. It shows nearly all of western Colorado in drought, including a large region of D3 (extreme) drought.

US Drought Monitor 1-week change map for Colorado for July 15, 2025. It shows degradation in a large part of western Colorado, along with a small improvement on the eastern plains.

The fires are growing amid worsening drought in western Colorado. This week's US Drought Monitor shows widespread expansion of drought on the western slope, as conditions have been very warm and dry going back to the winter. #cowx

Colorado wildfires: Five fires on Western Slope burn nearly 21,000 acres Four of the five wildfires burning on Colorado’s Western Slope have together consumed nearly 21,000 acres, according to fire officials. How much Colorado land the fifth has burned is unknown.…

The Turner Gulch fire in western Colorado has grown to over 15,000 acres; it's the largest wildfire (by area) in the state since the record-breaking 2020 fire year. #cowx

www.denverpost.com/2025/07/16/c...

US Drought Monitor for July 1, 2025 for Colorado, showing drought across all of western Colorado, and a broad swath of D3 (extreme drought) from the western border up into northwest Colorado.

Accumulated precipitation at Hayden, Colorado, from April 4 to July 2, 2025, compared to the average. This year's precipitation is the lowest on record for this 90-day period.

Map of forecast precipitation from the NOAA Weather Prediction Center, showing amounts from 0.1"-0.5" across most of western Colorado on Thursday July 3, 2025.

This week's US Drought Monitor shows expansion of extreme drought (D3) in northwest Colorado. At Hayden, the last 90 days have been the driest such period on record, with only 1.18" of precip compared to an average of 4.93". NW CO could see heavy rainfall today to reduce the deficits a bit. #cowx

Photo of a CoCoRaHS hail observation with a 2.5" hailstone from Wellington, Colorado at 2:30am on June 17, 2025. From https://www.cocorahs.org/ViewData/ViewHailReport.aspx?HailReportID=5595acd1-dca2-42df-a22d-65f6218d4087

Hourly distribution of large hail reports in Colorado, showing a big spike in the afternoon and evening, and almost none in the early morning hours.

was not expecting to wake up and see reports of an early-morning swath of large hail along the Front Range (apologies to those who woke up to damage.) Big hail in the early am is *exceedingly* rare. Prior to today, only 7 reports in state records of 2"+ hail between the hours of 2-5am. #cowx

The June 6, 2020 derecho brought the most severe thunderstorm wind reports in a single day in Colorado records *by far*. So many that there is a spike on June 6 when calculating the climatology of severe winds for the state (bottom panel of graph). Five years ago today. #cowx

NOAA Weather Prediction Center 72-hour precipitation forecast through Thursday morning. It shows widespread >0.75" across Colorado, with some localized areas in southern Colorado >2".

Average precipitation for June in Colorado, with values in southwestern Colorado less than one inch in most places.

Percent of the average June precipitation in the 72-h Weather Prediction Center forecast. Most of southwestern Colorado is predicted to get more than their average rainfall for all of June in the next 3 days, with some spots in southern Colorado predicted to get more than double their June average.

Heavy rain is possible across southern Colorado through Weds. Early June is typically dry in SW CO, so this storm could bring 1-2x the usual rainfall for all of June. It may not help much with the poor water supply situation, but will recharge soil moisture and hopefully reduce wildfire risk. #cowx

Are you in NE Colorado? Want to help out the #ICECHIP effort? We would deeply appreciate very large hailstones found by chasers or the community to be bagged & tagged and handed off to one of our teams!

For labeling, please:
• Write time, lat, and lon of collection!

Tornadoes that hit Bennett, Elbert County were rated EF2, meteorologists say In the last 30 years, Colorado has seen an average of 45 tornadoes a year, NWS said, and only 2.9% of those have been ranked EF2.

story from @denverpost.com describing the damage from these tornadoes:

Four tornadoes confirmed from Sunday east of Denver; three of them rated EF-2! Adams County is one of the most tornado-prone counties in the country, but this is the first EF-2 in the county since July 13, 1996. #cowx

Drought Status Update for the Intermountain West | May 20, 2025 | Drought.gov NIDIS and partners will issue future Drought Status Updates as conditions evolve.

Drought update for the Intermountain West from NIDIS: www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

Today!

map showing preliminary severe weather reports in Colorado for 2025 through May 15. There are many severe wind reports in northeastern Colorado from the event on May 14.

and you can browse around the severe weather reports for the year to date using this interactive map on our website: climate.colostate.edu/ytd_severe_s...

Or look at historical severe weather data here (now updated through 2024!): climate.colostate.edu/severe_wx_cl...

There were 137 severe wind reports in Colorado from the June 2020 derecho. A look back at that remarkable event from NWS Boulder here: www.weather.gov/bou/20200606...

Wednesday evening's storms had 64 preliminary reports of severe winds in eastern Colorado. That's second to only the June 6, 2020 derecho in terms of number of severe thunderstorm wind reports on a single day in Colorado! #cowx

The changing drought landscape after a big storm and May heat - Colorado Climate Blog This week’s US Drought Monitor shows big changes across Colorado. The southeastern plains got some much-needed moisture from a big spring storm last week. This led to improvements in the drought situa...

New blog post: "The changing drought landscape after a big storm and May heat"

This week’s US Drought Monitor shows big changes across Colorado, with improvements in the southeast from last week's big storm, and worsening conditions in the west after a warm, dry April and early May. #cowx #drought

Today!

honestly don't remember! but here's some info from when they changed the file format in 2020: rda.ucar.edu/OS/web/datas...

around 15 UTC for the 24-h period ending 12 UTC (and then updated if more data arrives or QC is applied): nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/ncc...

Map of precipitation in Colorado over the two days ending Wednesday morning, 7 May 2025. The gridded analysis and CoCoRaHS observations show over 1.5" across southeastern Colorado, and higher amounts west of Colorado Springs, near Cañon City, and the southern Sangre de Cristo range.

Healthy precipitation amounts over the last two days in southern Colorado and along the Front Range. Widespread totals >1.5" on the southeastern Plains, and over 3" west of Colorado Springs and around Cañon City. #cowx

It snowed again, but to what effect? - Big Pivots Colorado’s southern mountains had another miserable snowpack. This is not good for the Colorado or Rio Grande rivers. It fits in with a theme.

It snowed again, but to what effect? bigpivots.com/it-snowed-ag...

We are promoting CoCoRaHS hail reports as part of the upcoming @nsficechip.bsky.social project -- you can learn more about the project at the field day on May 17th in Boulder! (And did you know that CoCoRaHS observers can now submit photos with hail reports?)

Southwestern Colorado farmers expect a third of their normal water supply following a dry winter Water managers and farmers in the Colorado River Basin are forecasting a slow year after lackluster snow — and hoping for a rainy spring.

"The region’s rivers and streams are likely to be lower than usual between now and July, when rivers typically swell to their peaks, according to Peter Goble, a climatologist for the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University."
#cowx #drought

7-day precipitation forecast for Colorado from NOAA's Weather Prediction Center. Most of southern Colorado has >2" in the forecast, with over 5" on Pikes Peak. From https://climate.colostate.edu/drought/#outlook

Weather Prediction Center day 2 excessive rainfall outlook, showing a slight risk over southeastern Colorado and a marginal risk over most of the eastern plains.

Winter storm warning for the mountains above 10000 feet in southern Colorado.

Snow accumulation forecast over the next 72 hours from the Weather Prediction Center, showing a max of over 42" on Pikes Peak, and more than 2 feet of snow in many mountain areas, though little to no snowfall at lower elevations.

Some very big precipitation amounts in the forecast for the next 2 days, especially in southern Colorado. This will be welcome in light of the worsening drought in that area, but there's also a risk of flooding at low elevations and a winter storm warning at high elevations. #cowx

US Drought Monitor for Colorado for April 29, 2025. Much of southern Colorado is in drought, with a new area of D3 on the western slope. There are also pockets of drought in southeastern Colorado and the northern Front Range.

7-day precipitation forecast from NOAA's Weather Prediction Center, showing most of Colorado with above-average precipitation in the next week, especially on Mon-Weds, with the largest amounts in southeast Colorado.

This week's US Drought Monitor shows expanding drought across Colorado, with a new area of D3 (extreme) on the western slope after a dry April and rapidly declining mountain snowpack. We've got our fingers crossed for the storm next week, with some large precipitation amounts in the forecast! #cowx