Many metro residents glimpsed an unfamiliar sight when they left their homes this morning: Puddles.
After last night’s drenching rain and several tornado warnings, water is pooling in gutters citywide, and residents in some parts of Colorado are still avised to be cautious, the National Weather Service reports.
A flood warning is in effect for eastern parts of the state. Residents in western Colorado and across the eastern mountains are under a flash flood watch until this evening.
Yesterday, the Weather Service issued a tornado warning from 6:40 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. for northwestern Adams County, Central Denver County, southwestern Weld County and eastern Broomfield County.
Kyle Fredin, a Weather Service meteorologist in Boulder, said members of the public reported several funnel clouds along a line from Platteville to south central Thornton at 6:36 p.m.
Fredin noted that it’s not uncommon for residents to report funnel clouds in that area. But, he said, the rotating funnel shape may have been a gustnado.
“Any time you get near boundaries, you get rotation because there’s a collision of air that’s moving at different directions,” Fredin explained.
“When you get those boundary collisions, and you get a differential in wind speeds, you’ll get turning and rotation and sometimes those get tilted upwards,” said Fredin. “That’s a gustnado.”
Fredin said no damage was reported from last night’s winds. He added that the last major, destructive tornado to pass through the metro area was in 1988.
That’s not all that happened yesterday.
Prior to the tornado warning, Denver and the Front Range went from arid to soaked as thunderstorms and heavy rainfall flooded the metro area.
With that rainfall came the end of not just one, but two records, the National Weather Service reports. The 134-year old heat wave record broke, tallying 24 consecutive days of temps at or above 90 degrees.
And a daily rainfall record for August 6th, set in 1929, was smashed.
Denver International Airport collected 1.29 inches of rain by day’s end, exceeding the previous August 6th record of 1.10 inches.
The cooler, wetter weather will continue. The Weather Service is calling for a high of 76 degrees today and a 40 percent chance of precipitation.
A hazardous-weather outlook is still in effect, advising metro residents to be mindful of continued heavy rain and winds.
Tomorrow should be warmer and slightly drier, with highs near 86 degrees and a 30 percent chance of rain.
Temperatures will climb slowly over the weekend, to 88 degrees on Saturday and 90 on Sunday. The chance of rain will drop from 20 percent on Saturday to 10 percent on Sunday.
Monday’s forecast shows only a slight chance of precipitation.
Cloudy skies between now and Monday will help keep overnights cool. The Weather Service expects lows in the lower 60s.
Liv Gold: 303-954-1311 or lgold@denverpost.com
