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<br />At that time, 4:00 p.m. (1600 MDT), cloud masses began to bubble upwards forming towers <br />of billowing dark-bottomed cumulus clouds over the foothills northwest of Fort Collins. <br />Thunder began to rumble, and by 5:00 p.m., the first torrents of heavy rain poured down <br />northwest of Laporte. Close to 1.50 inches ofrain fell in just over 30 minutes not far from <br />Ted's Place (four miles northwest of Laporte), and another core of heavy rain fell farther <br />northwest beyond Livennore. Quickly the storm expanded southward, and within minutes <br />sheets of rain splashed onto Horsetooth Reservoir, hiding the foothills behind them. Thunder <br />crashed and storm clouds spread eastward and southward out across Fort Collins. People ran <br />for shelter expecting a downpour, but the heavy rains were limited to the lower foothills and <br />diminished quickly to the east. Except for extreme western Fort Collins, most of the city <br />received less than one quarter inch of rairt, but near the south inlet bay ofHorsetooth <br />Reservoir, 2.42 inches ofrain was measured from this quick storm. These first heavy rains <br />were mostly over by 6:30 p.m. with only occasional sprinkles and light showers after that. <br />Damp, rain-chilled air spread out across Fort Collins, but thunder continued to rumble east <br />and south of town. Most areas of Loveland were drenched with one to two inches of <br />welcome rains before the storm diminished after 8:00 p.m. <br /> <br />This first round of thunderstorms was quite typical oflate July. The storms developed and <br />struck quickly, with a commotion of lightning and thunder, only to end just as quickly. While <br />some areas were soaked, other nearby locations were nearly dry (Figure 7). This was just the <br />beginning, though. The air remained humid and fragrant. Instead of clearing off at sunset like <br />a normal summer evening, dense, dark clouds continued to hug the foothills and the <br />temperature remained steady. The air was still, and sounds seemed to carry a long way. <br /> <br />Around 10:00 p.m. (2200 MDT), a few flashes of lightning lit up the sky just south of Fort <br />Collins. As thunder rumbled, a brief shower of rain fell on some south-side neighborhoods in <br />Fort Collins. The rain began to spread northward, and a similar brief but localized shower fell <br />near Bellvue, but ended quickly. Perhaps 0.50 inches of rain fell from each of these showers, <br />but over very small areas. The rain and thunder ended, and most residents of Fort Collins <br />went to bed enjoying the refreshing dampness that summer storms bring - happy to know that <br />they could skip watering their yards or gardens for at least a day or two. <br /> <br />After midnight, southeasterly winds, behind the cold front that had triggered the evening <br />storms, increased and pushed more moist air up against the eastern foothills. Sometime <br />around 0100 MDT Monday, rain began again. Without the excitement and fanfare of <br />lightning and thunder, steady rains developed - not hard enough to wake most sleepers. At <br />first the rains were limited to a very narrow band right along the first hogback from the <br />southwest edge of Fort Collins northward to near Owl Canyon (15 miles northwest of Fort <br />Collins). For a few hours the rains intensified. Between 0200 to 0400 MDT rain fell over <br />much of eastern Larimer County. Rainfall rates in excess of one inch per hour developed <br />northwest of the town of Laporte while rates were much lower farther east. The rains <br />diminished again after 0400 MDT, and by the first light of dawn rain ended except in a very <br />narrow band along the foothills from southwest of Fort Collins northward over Horsetooth <br />Reservoir and then continuing northward approximately following U.S. Highway 287 to <br />Livermore. Residents of this area awoke to gloomy, dark skies. Water was standing or <br /> <br />29 <br />