The weather will become colder and wetter heading into Mother's Day weekend. Another storm system is expected to move from the southwest across Colorado beginning Friday, May 7. The system will be able to produce a wide range of weather conditions throughout the mountains and plains -- including snow.
"Maybe 10 to 20 inches in the mountains, this is going to be fairly wet snow but we will see some flakes along the foothills and Front Range probably no more than an inch or two," said National Weather Service meteorologist Nezette Rydell. "It's going to melt before it can accumulate too much. But it's going to be pretty slushy wet stuff."
Concern over flooding is moderate Rydell said, because the ground is already saturated from previous wet weather.
"Right now we're not expecting any rivers to go out of banks. We're watching the Cache La Poudre into Greeley we're watching some of the smaller streams. Some of those have risen, we are seeing some high flows through Greeley, the forecast rainfall does not put them into flooding territory but they will be well above normal."
The Poudre is currently flowing at about 6,000 cubic feet per second, which is higher than normal during spring runoff.
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— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) May 8, 2015
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission isn't taking any chances. It sent a warning of flooding to area emergency managers. The Greeley Tribune reports that oil and gas companies shut in wells and hauled products off site as rivers inched higher.
Colorado's historic flooding in 2013 broke flow lines and damaged tanks and caused more than $12 million in damage and spilled about 50,000 barrels of oil and produced water.
NWS meteorologist Rydell cautions that if the storm doesn't keep moving over the state the flash flooding risk will increase.
"The forecast is very changeable. We're on that threshold between rain and snow, so I would expect to see changes in the forecast for specific locations that are on that rain snow edge, but either way it's going to be a wet and soggy Mother's day."
