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<br />By the morning of the 5th, the high pressure center from the Great Lakes had <br />begun to drift eastward. This resulted in reduced flow into the Penrose storm. <br />The easterly component of the flow over the western part of the Great Plains <br />weakened, and a more southerly component began to dominate. This reduced the <br />lifting effect of the first upslopes of the Rockies; however, the moisture inflow <br />was still sufficient to produce scattered rains in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, <br />and Oklahoma. The heaviest rains were occurring farther south in New Mexico and <br />Texas, and were associated with a cold front that was moving into the region on <br />the 5th and 6th. These rainfalls were not nearly as intense as those that had <br />occurred in Colorado on the evening of the 3rd an~ the morning of the 4th. The <br />High, which had been centered near the Great Lakes, continued to drift farther to <br />the east, resulting in diminished strength of the moist airflow from the Gulf of <br />Mexico northward. As the cold front moved through New Mexi co, Texas, and <br />Oklahoma, it pushed out the final remnants of the moist easterly flow. <br /> <br />The isohyetal pattern (fig. 2.5) shows rainfall centers in four states that <br />exceeded 6 in. The centers are located at Penrose, CO (12 in.); Hope, NM <br />(6.4 in.); Shattuck, OK (7.3 in.); and Plainview, TX (6.3 in.). A fifth center <br />of 5.9 in. was located at Cimmaron, KS. Mass curves of rainfall for <br />representative stations in the centers at Penrose, Hope, and Shattuck (fig. 2.5) <br />indicate the differing natures of the precipitation in the different centers. <br />The rainfall at the Penrose center, and other large amounts in Colorado, <br />generally occurred over a relatively short duration (less than or equal to <br />24 hr). At Hope, Shattuck, and Plainview (mass curve not shown), the <br />precipitation occurred over a longer time period, generally in excess of 48 hr. <br />At Penrose, 87 percent of the total storm rainfall occurred in the maximum 6-hr <br />period, while at other locations in Colorado with large precipitation amounts, <br />the greatest 6-hr amount accounted for 60 to 85 percent of the total storm <br />amount. The average of the greatest 6-hr amounts for Colorado stations was <br />approximately 78 percent of the total storm rainfall. By contrast, in the other <br />three centers of the storm, the ratios of the greatest 6-hr amounts to the total <br />storm precipitation amounts are significantly less, being 29 percent at the <br />Plainview, TX center, 31 percent at Hope, NM, and 47 percent at Shattuck, OK. <br />Other reports of heavy rainfall outside of Colorado show 6-hr to total storm <br />ratios ranging from approximately 20 to 74 percent. An average of these ratios <br />outside of Colorado was approximately 46 percent. <br /> <br />2.4.1.3 Spriogbrook. Montana - June 17-21. 1921 (32). This was a large area <br />extra tropical cyclone that occurred over eastern Montana and western North <br />Dakota. The primary rainfall center occurred at Springbrook, MT where 15.1 in. <br />of precipitation fell in approximately 100 hr. Over 85 percent of the total <br />storm rainfall fell in a period of about 18 hr. The precipitation centers in <br />North Dakota were considerably smaller; 5.3 in. at Powers Lake, ND and 4.9 in. <br />at Beach, ND. <br /> <br />At 0600 on June 17, a slow-moving cold front extended from eastern Montana <br />southwestward through Arizona (fig. 2.6). Warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico <br />was being pumped northward by a high pressure system centered over Mississippi. <br />A wave, which was forming on the front, was positioned in northeastern Arizona. <br />The wave moved quickly northeastward along the front, and, by 0600 June 18, was <br />situated in southeastern Wyoming with a warm front extending eastward along the <br />South Dakota-Nebraska border. The moist unstable air from the Gulf of Mexico was <br />lifted over the warm front and deflected around the Low in Wyoming. Convective <br />activity was occurring in the vicinity of both the warm and cold fronts. <br /> <br />21 <br />