Flooding abated slightly in parts of the state today, but surge from the high country runoff isn’t yet done, experts warned.
“I hope it’s running out of steam,” Vail Fire Chief Mark Miller said this afternoon. “Today it’s not a lot better, but it’s not getting any worse.”
A flood warning is in effect for Eagle County until 8 p.m.
Today’s break in the fast, heavy flows is probably a result of Tuesday’s cooler weather, “but it may be short-lived,” said Trest Huse, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service Office in Boulder.
Recent temperatures that have been 10 to 15 degrees higher than usual are expected to drop, but an inch of rain is expected east of the Continental Divide, including the Front Range, Friday afternoon to early Saturday.
Higher elevations could even see snow, re-supplying areas that Miller said had all but melted out this week. With another round of warmer temperatures early next week, rivers and creeks could rise again, Huse said.
Temperatures in Eagle County have been in the 80s this week, but are expected to cool into the 70s by Friday and back into the more seasonal 60s this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Firefighters, Eagle County jail inmates and volunteers in Vail have been sandbagging along creeks. Several agencies have been on standby for river rescues as the fast snow melt brought on by the warmer-than-usual temperatures have gorged waterways at two and three times their normal flow for this time of year since Memorial Day.
The Eagle River below Gypsum was flowing at 5,070 cubic feet per second today, down from more than 7,000 cfs on Sunday and Monday. The 63-year mean for the dates is about 2,500 cfs, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Several rivers are still running above record levels, however.
The Blue River near Dillon was flowing at 929 cfs today, compared to the previous high, 735 cfs, set in 1997. The 62-year mean for the river for the date is 350 cfs.
The Arkansas River at Nathrop was flowing at 3,980 cfs today. On Monday and Tuesday the river was flowing at about 4,800 cfs.
The previous maximum before the recent meltoff was 3,600 cfs set in 1980. The normal flow for the date is 1,880, according to the USGS.
A flood warning remains in effect for west-central Weld County until 3:45 a.m. Thursday. The Cache La Poudre River had surged beyond its banks in several locations from Windsor to Greeley, including into the Pelican Lakes Gold Course on the south side of Windsor.
A flood warning also is in effect for the Arkansas River from Cañon City to Pueblo until sometime Thursday afternoon.
Water was being released from Pueblo Reservoir today to accommodate additional runoff from the fast snowmelt, according to the National Weather Service.
As a result, the river was expected to fall from the expected high of 9.3 feet back below flood stage, 7 feet, by Thursday afternoon, the Weather Service said.
The last time the river Arkansas crested this high was 9.2 feet on June 2, 1994, according to weather records.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
