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Storm unleashes fury on Front Range
A rare late-night thunderstorm pounded the Front Range on Monday, continuing the near daily deluge since June that has made this one of the wettest summers in El Paso County in recent years.
And the outlook is for more of the same with the approach of the August monsoon season, when moisture from the Gulf of California streams through Arizona into Colorado.
The beginning of 2009 was dry, but by June, El Paso County’s rainfall was a half inch above average for the year, said Randy Gray, National Weather Service meteorologist.
July has been even wetter, he said — so far, 2.59 inches of rain have fallen in Colorado Springs, .89 inches above normal.
Monday’s onslaught that pummeled the Front Range with torrential rain, hail, 60 mph winds and a tornado south of Castle Rock was caused by lots of moisture in the air trapped against the mountains and cool air being drive across the top of it, said Jim Hall, weather service spokesman.
Gray said northern Colorado and Denver got the worst of it.
Just after midnight, 1.69 inches of rain fell in the Monument area in just 20 minutes. That same area had reports of hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter.
“Usually you would expect the heavy storms and rains and hail to occur in the late afternoon, early evening when you get the most heat,” Hall said.
Despite the intensity of the storm, Colorado Springs didn’t experience any power outages said Steve Berry, spokesman for Colorado Springs Utilities.
Denver and the I-25 corridor south to Monument Hill didn’t fare as well. A tornado touched down briefly south of Castle Rock and 50,000 Xcel Energy customers were out of power at the peak of the storm. West of Denver the storm uprooted trees, broke windows and downed power lines.
Gray said it’s looking like August is going to stay wet and be quite a bit cooler than usual, with a 40 percent chance of above-average rainfall and temperatures ranging from the high 70s to the mid-80s.
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Call the writer at 636-0274.
Gazette reporter Carlyn Mitchell contributed to this report
