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<br />Description of lal'llest recorded ore(ioitation events as measured on the (amous of <br />Colorado State University from 1889 through 1997. Events are listed in chronological <br />order based on the dates on which the rainfall were reported. Remember that the official <br />climatological day for the CSU weather station ends at 1900 MST. Therefore, rains that <br />fall between 1900 and midnight are reported on the following day. <br /> <br />Most descriptive information was obtained or inferred from data and remarks recorded by <br />CSU weather observers. Larger events could have occurred in the Fort Collins vicinity <br />such as the May 20-21, 1904 storm in northern Larimer County, but these storms did not <br />produce heavy precipitation on campus. <br /> <br />April 28-29, 1900 <br /> <br />2.39 inches in one day, 3.09 inches in two days <br /> <br />Some fairly heavy showers accompanied by hail began late on the afternoon of April 27. <br />Lighter intermittent showers on the 28th turned into a hard, steady, cold rain overnight on <br />the 28th, all day on the 29th and then turned to snow before finally ending around 8 a.m. <br />on the 30th. Total precipitation for the entire storm period was 4.77 inches in 54 hours <br />with 2.89 inches fa.lIing from 7 p.m. on the 28th until 8 a.m. on the 30th. This was clearly <br />a major "upslope" storm, and it is likely that precipitation was heavier west of campus but <br />likely fell primarily as snow immediately west of Fort Collins in the lower foothills. As a <br />result, foothills flooding was unlikely. However, since most of Larimer County had <br />already been extremely wet in the weeks preceding this storm, standing water and low- <br />level flooding was a distinct possibility east of the foothills. <br /> <br />May 21-22, 1901 <br /> <br />2.32 inches in one day, <br /> <br />3.70 inches in two days <br /> <br />The rain began around 4:30 p.m. on the 20th as an intense thunderstorm accompanied by <br />hail. 1.90 inches fell by 7 p.m. with an additional 1.34 inches by about 8:30 p.m. for a <br />total of3 .24 inches in just over four hours. Very little rain fell during the day on the 21 st, <br />but another burst of heavy rain and hail developed during the evening of the 21 st with an <br />additiona12.36 inches in roughly four hours. In all, 5.60 inches ofrain fell in less than 48 <br />hours (spread over 3 observational days) at the campus weather station. No information <br />was given on how much rain may have fallen in surrounding areas near Fort Collins, but <br />the intensities of these back -to-back storms were likely sufficient to produce significant <br />runoff. <br /> <br />September 20-21, 1902 4.34 inches in one day, 6.22 inches in two days <br /> <br />Intense rains began over Fort Collins around 5 p.m. on the 20th. 1.88 inches fell by 7 p.m. <br />that evening with an additional 2.72 inches by 7 a.m. on the 21st. Thereafter, the rain <br />diminished into a steady, cold rain with another 1.62 inches by 7 p.m. and 0.62 inches <br />more by the time the rain stopped around noon on the 22nd for a storm total of6.84 <br />inches. No information was located describing rainfall amounts elsewhere in the vicinity <br />of Fort Collins. <br /> <br />51 <br />