The precipitation Southwest Colorado has received over the past several days might indicated the beginning of the monsoons.
Moisture from the south has slowly been moving north. Parts of Arizona and New Mexico have begun to experience the monsoons, which are expected to last until late August.
“We are starting to see the influence of it in our area,” said Megan Stackhouse, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, told The Durango Herald. “A lot of it gets constricted because we have a high pressure system overhead, so it does kind of prevent that moisture from reaching further north. But otherwise, it is moisture coming from the south.”
The weather service predicts a 50 percent chance of showers on Saturday night and a 20-30 percent chance of showers Sunday through Tuesday in Montezuma County. Forecasters expect scattered storms, making it hard to predict where precipitation is going to land, she said.
On Saturday afternoon, the weather service warned that some storm cells might be capable of producing flooding or mudslides throughout Southwest Colorado and southeast Utah, including the southwest San Juan Mountains, the Dolores and Animas river basins, and the San Juan River Basin in Utah.
The weather service has issued a flash flood watch every day since July 5, and widespread showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue next week.
Although the storms bring moisture, they also could start fires. On Thursday and Friday, lightning was blamed for two wildfires in Montezuma County and four small fires northeast of Elmore’s Corner in La Plata County.
asemadeni@durangoherald.com
