10/22/2026 Thursday 12:20 pm
OK, no break. As soon as I hit publish, this came out:
Archuleta CO-Hinsdale CO-La Plata CO-
1218 PM MDT Thu Oct 22 2026
...FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT TONIGHT...
* WHAT...Flooding caused by thunderstorms and excessive rainfall is
expected.
* WHERE...Western Archuleta County in southwestern Colorado...
Southern Hinsdale County in southwestern Colorado...
Southern La Plata County in southwestern Colorado...
* WHEN...Until midnight MDT Tonight.
* IMPACTS...Flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying
and flood-prone locations is imminent or occurring. Streams
continue to rise due to excess runoff from earlier rainfall.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
- At 1212 PM MDT, Doppler radar and automated rain gauges indicated
heavy rain. Flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly in
the warned area. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain have fallen over
the last 24 hours.
- This includes but is not limited to the following streams...
Vallecito Creek, La Plata River, Animas River and many creeks and
tributaries that feed into these rivers.
- Some locations that will experience flooding include...
Durango, La Plata, Falfa, Hesperus, Bondad, Breen, Mayday, Kline,
Marvel, Redmesa and Vallecito.
I am glad they did this, BUT the existing Flood Watch expires tomorrow at noon. Do you want to know what’s not going to expire? The rain!
The Flood Watch reads like flood danger will be over by noon tomorrow. You can’t just flip a switch and end it. It looks like we may see a short lull tomorrow afternoon before the second part rolls in very late Friday night/very early Saturday morning. Here are the latest forecast totals between noon today and Monday morning.
The point is, the danger doesn’t go away when this flood watch does! I hope (nudge nudge) they issue an overlapping Flood Watch for the weekend, because ending this one without following up on the weekend sends the wrong message.
I am going to try to post another flood update after CBRFG updates their forecasts later today. At least the crucial ones.