Mountain rain and thunderstorms continue tomorrow

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) -

River Levels:

Based on the latest update on Sunday afternoon, some changes occurred from Saturday into Sunday. With temperatures expected to rise over the next few days, we may see a rise in these levels.

• Gunnison River near Utah, Colorado Stateline

River levels recorded Saturday afternoon will continue to rise leading into next week. Warming temperatures will rapidly speed up the snowmelt process, and in Grand Junction, temperatures will hop back into the 80-degree range. By late next week, river levels will surpass the action stage of 12.5 feet. Around Thursday will reach that action stage and continue rising to 13.72 feet by next Saturday.

• Gunnison River near Grand Junction

As temperatures start rising throughout the week, so are the river levels. By Sunday evening, river levels will reach the action stage of 10 feet and continue to grow as the week progresses slowly, and by Friday evening, topping 12.71 feet.

• Dolores River below McPhee Reservoir

River levels recorded Saturday afternoon have shifted towards the action stage of 7 feet. The river will hover just slightly below the action stage at 6.94 feet and straight line the same height throughout the week.

Our Next 24 hours:

Cloud cover across the Western Slope will continue to hang throughout the day. The higher terrain will get a lot more sustained amount of scattered showers than the valleys, along with the possibility of thunderstorms. Again, be mindful of lightning in the mountains as the risk of lightning strikes increases the higher you go and becomes even higher if you are at a high elevation in an open area.

For our Saturday night, low temperatures will rest in the lower 50s to upper 40s. Cloud cover will continue overnight, giving some of these warmer lows, and will continue leading into our Sunday.

For our Sunday, the chances of scattered showers occurring in the valleys remain possible. Overcast skies will continue, and temperatures will sit in the upper to mid-70s. Again, the mountains will receive another helping of rain and thunderstorms as moisture from the south feeds into the state.

Next Week:

While the chances of scattered showers and thunderstorms will continue for the mountains, they will start tapering off towards the middle of the week. While rain will help contribute to some of our river levels, the biggest concern will be the warmer temperatures returning. While the valleys are not dealing with snowfall, areas in the high terrain, like the Grand Mesa and the San Juans, still have substantial amounts of snow on the ground; the rising trend again is going to melt snow faster.

Flooding will be a big concern as temperatures rise over the next several weeks. Grand Junction will return into the 80s, while Montrose will reach close to the 80-degree threshold and hover in the upper 70s. Partly cloudy skies are likely over several days throughout the workweek. Temperatures then ease as we arrive by Thursday and into the start of the weekend.

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