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<br />,"'''',""''''",",'i:.."-','-,;,,"_ur..',,,",-,.'''',, <br /> <br />one storm possibly reaching supercell intensity near Penrose. Regarding the events of the <br />evening of June 3, one resident stated the storm came from the northeast, then worked <br />around north, and finally to the northwest. A second resident said that the storm appeared <br />to come from the northeast and was met by another storm which came from the <br />southwest. A third resident related that the stonn first appeared to work to the west on <br />the north side of the Arkansas River, then south and southeast, and when it reached his <br />ranch, it was coming from the northwest. Figure 3 shows reconstructed apparent motion <br />vectors of two heavy thunderstorms and that of the reported merged thunderstorm system <br />consistent with these statements of local residents. <br /> <br />The results of interviews oflocal residents and the measured maximum discharges of the <br />Arkansas River and its tributaries indicate two principal areas of intense rainfall. Rainfall <br />measurements and estimations in and around these two areas are shown in Figure 4. The <br />larger area extends from the northern boundary of Pueblo County to the top oflhe Wet <br />Mountains near Beulah, a distance of 30 miles, and from a point just above the mouth of <br />Rush Creek nearly to Pueblo, a distance of 15 miles. The smaller area covers the south <br />slope of the Pikes Peak uplift, which fomls the northern part of the mountain valley and <br />extends from a point above Skaguay Reservoir to a point :3 or 4 miles south of the <br />Arkansas River, a distance of25 miles, and from Oil Creek to Beaver Creek, a distance of <br />11 miles. The two areas cover 550 square miles. <br /> <br />In summary, this historic flood on the Arkansas River system near Pueblo underlines the <br />importance of topography in focusing moist low..level inflow into relatively small areas <br />of elevated terrain. Although no upper-air charts are available for this early event, the <br />presence of a surface low pressure feature over the southern Rocky Mountain plateau <br />during this event suggests dynamics producing upward vertical motion in the foothills <br />west of Pueblo. A situation, not unlike that accompanying the Big Thompson Canyon <br />and Poudre River and Rist Canyon floods (discussed later in this report), featming the <br />superposition of synoptic and orographic upward. motion with orographically focused <br />moisture inflow, may very well have occurred. Also, as was the case for the Big <br />Thompson and Poudre River events, mid-level winds were probably light allowing <br />thunderstorms to "lock in" to the foothills for many hours. The apparent merger oftwo <br />thunderstorm systems, an event that did not affect the Big Thompson Canyon and Poudre <br />River and Risk Canyon floods, could have led to even further intensification of rainfall <br />centered near Penrose. <br /> <br />3.2 Cimarron, Colorado; June 3, 1952 <br /> <br />A comprehensive review of the meteorology and hydrology of this reported event is <br />given by Jarrett and Capesius (1996). Much of what follows is based on this review. <br /> <br />On this date, 5.25 inches ofrain was reported at the U.S. Weather Bureau precipitation <br />gage near Cimarron. Cimarron is located in central Colorado between the cities of <br />Gunnison and Montrose. The gage that reported the rainfall was located about :3 miles <br />southeast of Cimarron at an elevation of 6,904 feet msl. Rainfall reported on this day is <br />one of the largest known in western Colorado. Because the Annual Summary of <br /> <br />8 <br />