The National Weather Service said flash flooding could occur in slot canyons, normally dry washes and small streams, as well as in urban areas with poor drainage. It also warned of the potential for mud and rock slides in mountainous terrain.
Weather forecasters also are predicting excessive rainfall Thursday and Friday across much of the Four Corners as a result of monsoon moisture and instability in the atmosphere.
Forecasters had anticipated issuing the flash-flood watch, and also expect to issue a warning by Thursday, when the heavier rains are expected to fall, said Dennis Phillips, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
“This is just kind of a heads-up,” he said Tuesday.
“We’re just kind of getting people aware of what’s coming their way Thursday.”
It was too early to say how much moisture specific areas may receive, but it is likely isolated areas will receive torrential amounts, similar to what Durango experienced Monday afternoon, Phillips said.
“There’s a good chance that it will rain, and when it rains, it’s going to be efficient,” he said.
Montezuma County forecast
The moisture expected later this week will be aided by a “trigger” in the atmosphere, essentially a disturbance or a spin that will help stir thunderstorms.
“It’s just a piece of energy up there that is going to help focus thunderstorms and drive them,” Phillips said.
“It’s like an area of enhanced vorticity.”
The monsoon
The (Cortez) Journal contributed to this article.
