Holiday weather: Get ready for gushers, fireworks

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 3, 2008 at 7:53 a.m.
Updated July 3, 2008 at 7:53 a.m.

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Moist, warming air could produce severe thunderstorms along the Front Range later today, packing high winds, heavy hail and rain.

The high is expected to be 83 degrees with a 30 percent chance of rain.

If storm conditions line up, some areas could face 60 mph winds and deluges dumping an inch or more of rain in 30 minutes through this afternoon and evening, the National Weather Service warns.

But the foul weather will vanish for a sunny, sizzling Independence Day with a high near near 97 degrees and calm breezes.

The warming trend will make for a toasty holiday weekend, with highs in the mid-90s.

Mountain getaways should also be sunny with Vail expecting a high near 85 on the Fourth of July. Temperatures could dip to around 80 the rest of the weekend, with a slight chance of showers.

Morgan County residents could use some drying-out weather after getting hammered Wednesday night with high winds, hail and heavy rains.

The town of Brush bore the brunt of the damage.

"It's a mess out here," said Morgan County Sheriff Jim Crone, who was at the county fairgrounds, where a rodeo barbecue was canceled.

"We had a power pole that blew over on the grandstand, and we had everyone get inside and get under cover when the tornado warning hit."

He said 200 to 300 people who had turned up for the first day of the three-day rodeo took shelter in a metal building.

"There is a lot of standing water out here," the sheriff said. "With the winds that came through here, we were hoping that the building we were in wouldn't go with it."

Some areas had 6 inches to a foot of flooding as pea-to-nickel-size hail pelted the area and 60 mph winds mowed down trees.

"It feels like being shot by a shotgun," said Crone.

Flooding shut down stretches of local highways and the the East Morgan County Hospital had to move three patients from their rooms Wednesday night when the inpatient wing of the hospital flooded.

"We just had a very large rainstorm here, and some of the low-lying areas between the buildings were filled with water," said Karen Temple, spokeswoman for the hospital. "There was some water seepage into patient rooms."

All of the patients were doing well late Wednesday and there is plenty of staff to help, she said.

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