Showers and storms return, some could find the valleys

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Afternoon showers and thunderstorms will likely be at their highest coverage around the Western Slope today. Some of those showers and storms could migrate down into the valleys as well.

Next 24 Hours

Showers and thunderstorms are already underway across the Grand and Battlement Mesas, the High Country, and portions of the San Juan Mountains late this morning. We’ll continue to see those showers and storms increase in coverage across the region through the afternoon. Most of the rain will favor the higher elevations of the region to start, then we could see some of those cells move over the adjacent valleys later this afternoon and into the evening. Grand Junction, Delta, Montrose, and Cortez could all see some of that late afternoon/early evening rain. We’ll see partly to mostly cloudy skies in the meantime with highs in the middle to upper 70s and lower 80s. Lightning and gusty outflow winds will be the biggest impacts from these storms, but heavy rain and small hail are also possible in some of the stronger storms. Rain will quickly come to an end later this evening as drier air starts to move into the region, and skies will quickly start clearing out as well. We’ll wake up on Thursday morning with clear to mostly clear skies and lows in the middle to upper 40s and lower to middle 50s. A small increase in clouds moves back into the region by Thursday afternoon, but we’re dry and seasonably warm once again with highs in the lower to middle 80s.

Dry and Warm Weekend

Ridging continues to strengthen over the region through the rest of the work week and into the weekend, and we’ll continue to see mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies each day with temperatures continuing to warm into the lower and middle 80s. Any rain will be limited to just a few showers in the highest elevations very close to the Continental Divide. Some of the valleys could get very close to the upper 80s by the end of the weekend.

River Flood Alerts

After a very brief window of time where we had no active flood alerts around the Western Slope, we now have a Flood Advisory in effect for Plateau Creek between the Vega Reservoir outlet and the intersection of State Highways 330 and 65 near the Grand Mesa until further notice. Runoff from snow melt and the potential for occasional heavy rain from afternoon storms could cause some minor flooding along some of the low-lying areas around Plateau Creek in the advisory area.

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