Weather Alert Day: Strong storms back across southern Colorado

Today’s Forecast:
ANOTHER weather alert day for southern Colorado as we prepare for another round of thunderstorms later today and early tonight. Storms will follow the same pattern we’ve seen all week: they start over the mountains, push southeast to the I-25 corridor, and then move into the plains through tonight. The big difference is the very strong chance for severe weather out across the eastern border as a cold front pushes south tonight. Storms along the I-25 corridor could be strong, but severe chances are best well past El Paso and Pueblo counties. Isolated flooding and heavy rain is probably the biggest concern for Colorado Springs to Pueblo. Very severe weather is expected for counties hugging the Kansas border with large hail, damaging winds, and even tornadoes possible as storms push south from northeast Colorado right down our eastern border into Kansas.

COLORADO SPRINGS: High – 83; Low – 56. We’re thinking Colorado Springs gets two rounds of showers and storms today, both of which have only a small chance for severe weather. The first round will try and move through around 1 to 3pm with a few strong storms producing heavy rain, lightning and small hail. The second round of showers and storms will push back through closer to 6 to 7pm, that line will probably just be a few heavy rains and lightning.

PUEBLO: High – 91; Low – 60. We’re thinking two rounds of rain and thunderstorms are possible in Pueblo today, but the second round doesn’t look as guaranteed as the first. Storms look to push through Pueblo around 2 to 4pm with heavy rain, lightning, and possibly non damaging hail. The second round looks much more broken and scattered around Pueblo, but if it does move through the city the timing would be around 8 to 10pm.

CANON CITY: High – 86; Low – 62. Like Springs and Pueblo, two rounds of storms possible through Canon City. The first will feature heavy rain, lightning, and possible hail around 1 to 3pm with the second round sometime between 7 to 9pm, a few heavy rains are again possible in the second wave.

WOODLAND PARK: High – 76; Low – 49. Woodland Park sees rain first today with scattered showers and thunderstorms pushing through around 12 to 2pm. We could see heavy rain, small hail and lightning in any of these early storms. A second round of storms looks promising between 5 to 7pm, flooding would be a bigger risk at this time due to very soaked ground.

TRI-LAKES: High – 70s; Low – 50s. Like everyone we’re thinking two rounds of storms today around the Tri Lakes area. The first arrives around 1 to 2pm with heavy rain, lightning and small hail all possible. The second wave would be between 5 to 7pm, but in between both waves our modeling is showing a few sporadic showers or storms possible.

PLAINS: High – 80s/90s; Low – 60s. Storms will push east into the plains from the I-25 corridor later today, generally anytime after 4pm today. Storms could be strong to severe just east of El Paso/Pueblo counties, but the biggest and most severe storms are expected to hug the Kansas border as a cold front arrives tonight. Large, damaging hail and wind with tornadoes are all possible later today, generally after 6pm. The worst storms will hug a narrow corridor along the Colorado/Kansas border, but the hope is the worst storms stay just east of Kiowa, Prowers and Baca counties into Kansas.

WALSENBURG/TRINIDAD: High – 80s; Low – 60s. Scattered showers and storms develop around the I-25 corridor and also push south into the area from Pueblo. At the same time we’ll also watch storms spark around the Sangre De Cristos, giving the burn scars a good chance at flooding. Storms will move southeast but heavy rains and lightning are the big risks. Timing looks to be generally anytime after 2 to 3pm with a smaller chance of storms after 9pm.

VERY STRONG STORMS THIS WEEKEND: 
We all need to be VERY weather aware this weekend because severe storms look likely across southern Colorado both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday storms look numerous and strong to severe with heavy rain, lightning and a decent threat for damaging wind and hail just over the I-25 corridor but especially east into the plains. Sunday looks like the worst day for severe weather. At the moment, parameters are showing up that would support very heavy rain, large hail and damaging winds… even an isolated tornado will be something worth watching for Sunday afternoon. Please keep your weather apps handy just in case storms allow themselves to become severe.

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