Parts Of Colorado See Wettest May On Record With More Rain Coming

DENVER (CBS4) - It's almost too much of a good thing.

Many Colorado communities in and near the Front Range have seen around a foot of water since the middle of April.

Portions of El Paso County and Morgan County have seen even higher totals.

An observer with CoCoRaHS near Manitou Springs has recorded 15.82 inches of precipitation since April 16.

Over 14 inches was measured near the small town of Brush during the same time period.

As with most all situations there is a good side and a bad side to this recent weather pattern.

The good is that we're putting a major dent in a long-term drought that has gripped southeast Colorado for several years.

We're also keeping the wildfire season away in many communities.

But soils are saturated and rivers are running fast and high.

There's a good chance we will deal with off and on flooding issues for several more days.

WETTEST MAY ON RECORD

So far in May 2015 there has been 5.75 inches of rain recorded in La Junta, which sits along the Arkansas River just east of Pueblo in southeast Colorado.

It's the wettest May in that community since records began in 1945.

Other weather stations in southern Colorado that have already experienced the wettest May on record include the Lamar Airport, Springfield-Comanche, Crestone 2 SE and Rye 1 SW.

SECOND WETTEST MAY ON RECORD

Colorado Springs and Pueblo have both seen their second wettest May on record with more rain in the forecast and over a week before the month ends.

Since May 1 there has been six inches of moisture recorded in Colorado Springs which is 2.10 inches shy of tying the record wettest May set back in 1935.

Pueblo is much closer to their all-time wettest record.

So far this month they've seen 4.55 inches and the record is 5.43 inches from 1957.

The small town of Eads, located in east-central Colorado, is also close to a new record.

They've seen 6.30 inches of water since May 1 and are just 0.26 inches away from tying the all-time wettest May which dates back to 1928.

DENVER WET, BUT NOT IN RECORD TERRITORY YET

Denver has officially seen 3.37 inches at rain at Denver International Airport so far this May.

While it's over an inch above normal, it's not yet in the top 20 wettest on record, but could be soon.

Denver's City Park weather station has seen just over four inches of precipitation since May 1.

We've measured 4.31 inches of rain in our gauge here at CBS4 in downtown Denver since May 3.

Meteorologist Chris Spears writes about stories related to weather and climate in Colorado. Check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCBS4.