A severe storm swept across Colorado on Saturday, bringing with it heavy rain, up to baseball-sized hail and damaging winds, according to the National Weather Service.
The strongest severe weather affected Colorado’s plains eastward of Greeley, but storms started around noon across the state, NWS forecasters said.
Throughout the day, large hail and damaging winds were the main threat, forecasters said.
NWS meteorologists logged hail as small as mothballs — approximately half an inch in diameter — and as large as baseballs — nearly 3 inches across, according to weather service records.
The largest hail recorded at 2 3/4 inches in diameter was logged in Seibert, a town in Kit Carson County.
Although the weather service predicted wind gusts of 75 mph to blow through Colorado on Saturday, only one gust close to that benchmark was recorded by NWS meteorologists.
Deer Trail — a town in eastern Arapahoe County — recorded the state’s strongest recorded wind gust Saturday at 72 mph, according to NWS records.
In the Denver area, winds reached up to 60 mph, but no reports of the promised quarter-sized hail were recorded in the metro area as of 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Despite the on-and-off storms moving through the city throughout the afternoon, Denver saw a partly sunny day with temperatures reaching 85 degrees, NWS forecasters said. Cloud cover will increase overnight on Saturday as temperatures fall to 58 degrees.
Severe weather will largely wrap up by 8 p.m. Saturday, before picking back up in intensity around noon Sunday, according to NWS meteorologists.
Although several counties were under severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings Saturday evening, no excessive damage and only one twister touchdowns had been confirmed as of 7 p.m. Saturday.
A tornado of unknown magnitude touched down in Flagler, a town in eastern Colorado’s Kit Carson County, around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, according to NWS meteorologists.
Several social media users reported seeing supercell storm clouds — rotating thunderstorms that can spawn tornadoes — between Washington County’s town of Cope and Kit Carson County.
Showers and thunderstorms will continue Sunday over the Front Range and areas just east of the mountains, including Denver, according to a NWS hazardous weather outlook. Elsewhere, scattered thunderstorms are expected.
Rainy weather will continue through Monday in most of the state, but a drying and warming trend will start Tuesday, NWS forecasters said.
By Wednesday, temperatures are expected to be back in the mid to upper-90s across the metro area, bringing new record highs for the year.
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