Denver weather: Cloudy morning, leading to rain and possible flooding

Clouds hung low over metro Denver Tuesday morning and afternoon rain storms may bring thunder, lightning, and flooding, according to the National Weather Service.

Scattered storms will spin across Colorado’s Front Range cities, mostly before 7 p.m., weather service forecasters said, estimating the likelihood of rain at 50%.

These storms probably will be weaker than in recent days, but sudden flooding is possible along streams and rivers, in poor drainage areas, and on burn scars in the mountains where fires ravaged vegetation, forecasters said. Some storms may drop up to an inch of rain and small hail.

Streams and rivers “will continue to run high” and low-lying areas may be flooded, forecasters said, advising travelers to heed road closures.

The high temperature in Denver will be 66 degrees, decreasing to 50 degrees Tuesday night, forecasters said.

5:30 AM Radar Update: Light rain is pushing slowly to the south/southwest. Rain inches into #Denver metro later this morning. Patchy light fog, too. #COwx pic.twitter.com/GqiPgqehuK

— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) June 13, 2023

A flood watch remained in effect for areas southeast of Denver and for the Colorado Springs metro area. The rainfall in Colorado’s Front Range cities in recent days has reached record levels. In Colorado Springs, the 4.02 inches of rain that fell Monday set a new daily record, weather service data shows. This followed rainfall of 1.47 inches on Sunday, raising the two-day total to 5.49 inches. That breaks the previous two-day record of 5.36 inches set in September 2011.

Sudden flooding remained the biggest threat Tuesday, meteorologists said, because soils are saturated and storms could drop up to a half inch of rain per hour. “This may lead to minor street flooding,” weather service officials said. Storms were expected to diminish Tuesday night.