La Niña is winding down and normally we would expect a drier than normal monsoon.  Mother Nature however has other plans as she not only brought the season to Thornton early, it came with a vengeance this week.

In a presentation that just came out at the first of the month, the National Weather Service discussed the coming monsoon.  At that time forecasters predicted a drier and shorter than normal monsoon for the Colorado Front Range.  Thus far it has been anything but.

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This past week copious amounts of moisture have streamed into Colorado.  Coupled with daytime heating leading to a good deal of atmospheric instability, thunderstorms have been a daily occurrence.  Strong winds and heavy rain have occurred virtually daily.

Over the past five days Denver has recorded 1.78 inches of rain at the city’s official monitoring station at Denver International Airport.  Closer to where population actually lives even greater amounts have been seen.

Here in Thornton we have recorded 1.98 inches of rain over the past five days.  Other amounts over the same period recorded at nearby stations include 1.79 inches in Arvada, 3.18 inches at Reunion in Commerce City, and 3.06 inches in north Denver.

On Friday evening, a slow-moving thunderstorm dumped heavy rain on the southern parts of Thornton.  Video footage from storm chaser Tony Laubach (below) shows the end result as streets in the area of I-25 and 84th Avenue were flooded.

Is there an end in sight?  Not in the immediate future.  For at least the next few days atmospheric moisture will continue to be in abundance and we will continue to see the same general pattern.  By mid-week we may see some drying but we can’t entirely eliminate the threat of afternoon thunderstorms.

As always you can get the latest Thornton forecast here.