Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms produced widespread beneficial rainfall across portions of the Peaks2Plains coverage area on Thursday into early Friday morning. The heaviest rain from storms fell in eastern El Paso County and Crowley County according to CoCoRaHS reports as of early Friday morning.
The highest report in our coverage area came from Crowley, where 1.79 inches was measured just east of town. Nearby locations also did well, including 1.31 inches west of Ordway, making Crowley County one of the biggest rainfall winners.
In El Paso County, several locations exceeded an inch of rain. Peyton led the way with 1.32 inches, while nearby gauges measured 1.10 to 1.09 inches. Black Forest received up to 1.12 inches, with much of northern and eastern Colorado Springs, Monument, Fountain, Security and Calhan generally picking up one-half to three-quarters of an inch. Woodland Park in Teller County also enjoyed a soaking rain, with as much as 1.09 inches reported.
Farther east and southeast, rainfall remained beneficial. La Junta picked up 0.86 inches, while Rocky Ford received around one-half inch. Southern Bent County reported 0.74 inches, and Elbert County generally ranged from 0.40 to 0.73 inches, with the highest total near Elbert.
Of course it’s thunderstorms so not every county shared in the heavier rainfall. However, it’s been a pretty good week of moisture, even though some of it came as large hail in spots, especially earlier in the week. Overall, this was another productive round of moisture for many communities, helping gardens, rangeland, and dry soils while continuing a welcome stretch of late-June precipitation, not so much over the Peaks, but certainly the plains!
