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<br />l. Introduction <br /> <br />The performance of the WSR-88D Precipitation Processing System(pPS) (Fulton et al. <br /> <br />1998) is examined for a flash flood event that occurred in the evening of 12 July 1996 in the <br /> <br />small rural to\\TI of Buffalo Creek. Colorado located about 50 kIn southwest of Denver in <br /> <br />mountainous southern Jefferson County. Two drownings and extensive property damage <br /> <br />occurred in the town and the immediate vicinity associated with the rapid rise of the Buffalo <br /> <br />Creek that flows through town. In the Appendix is a memorandum written by the National <br /> <br />Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Office in Denver describing the impacts of the flood event. <br /> <br />Brandes (1997) describes a preliminary study of the Buffalo Creek event that compares rainfall <br /> <br />estimates from the WSR-88D and S-Pol dual polarization radars. <br /> <br />Thunderstorms first developed in central Colorado around II a.m. MDT 12 July (1700 <br /> <br />UTC) and moved generally southeastward. The most intense rainfall over the Buffalo Creek <br /> <br /> <br />watershed occurred primarily between 8 and 9 p.m. MDT 12 July (0200 and 0300 UTC 13 July). <br /> <br /> <br />At that time a weak surface low in Utah was producing southeasterly surface winds in eastern <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado that were advecting high dewpoints in the low to mid 60's F along the front range of <br /> <br />the Rocky Mountains. A weak stationary front was draped northwest-to-southeast across the <br /> <br />state, and an upper-level ridge over the West coast produced mid and upper-level west- <br /> <br />northwesterly winds of 30-40 knots over Colorado. The atmosphere was convectively unstable <br /> <br />with a Lifted Index of -4 from the 00 UTC 13 July Denver sounding. <br /> <br />There were some unofficial reports of hail associated with the flood-producing storm. <br /> <br />There were II official hail reports ranging from 0.75-1.75 inches in diameter and three FO <br /> <br />tornadoes throughout the same day associated with other severe thunderstorms in Colorado <br /> <br />3 <br />