Spring storm increased #SnowWaterEquivalent at Copper Mtn #SNOTEL, but no new high. SWE peaked April 30. #cowx pic.twitter.com/1vuqCZVnga
— Eagle River Water (@VailCOwater) May 11, 2015
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Ryan Severance):
The Arkansas River near Avondale was measured at a gauge height of 9 feet Saturday night, nearly 2 feet above flood stage.
Despite that, no widespread flooding was reported there, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office…
“The Arkansas is showing it’s at flood stage in Avondale, but it’s not flooding. I’ve got two captains that have been down there looking and it’s within its banks,” said Mark Mears, the sheriff’s office emergency bureau chief.
Fountain Creek in Pueblo roared Saturday, measuring at a gauge height of just over 6 feet which was at least 2 feet higher than the river was at any point Friday.
Cathy Todd, who manages stables owned by her father near Fountain Creek on Overton Road, said Saturday’s water levels on the creek are among the worst she has seen.
“It’s taken out probably a football fieldsize chunk of land and all the trees and has taken pretty much everything out since last night,” Todd said. “We’ve been moving horses and horse trailers and anything we could salvage. It’s a huge, huge lake down there right now and the water is coming in really fast and really high, so it’s flooding the whole place.”
Todd said the last of the horse stables she kept near the creek were washed away by the waters Saturday…
There were no tornadoes spotted, but the system that prompted the tornado warning was responsible for producing golf ball-size hail in the county near the Pueblo Memorial Airport and its vicinity.
That hail didn’t impact farmers in the Vineland area, however.
Carl Musso, owner of Musso Farms, said crops in the area were not affected by the weather as wind was minimal and only small bits of hail fell there for a short time.
“I can’t speak for all of Pueblo County, but I can speak for Vineland farmers here. Everything that we’ve got growing looks great and all the vegetables look fantastic. Chiles are starting to come out of the ground and everything looks good,” Musso said. “We’ll be right on time with everything this year. The hail does worry you and, yes, we did have some fall here. But there was no wind, which is what really drives the hail.”
Tornadoes that touched ground were spotted later in the afternoon in remote areas north of Pueblo County.