Southwest Colorado recently took a one-two punch of tropical moisture: Heavy rain fell from one major weather event and after a brief lull Sunday October 12th, remnants of Tropical Storm Raymond dumped more rain the next day on already saturated ground, triggering renewed flooding in La Plata and Archuleta counties; the San Juan River at Pagosa Springs again hit major flood stage, cresting slightly higher Tuesday than on Saturday.
With that second round of storms - High San Juan peaks saw another 3–4 inches (some as snow) with 1–3 inches around Pagosa, Bayfield, and Durango, pushing 7-day totals to an exceptional 10.2 inches at the Upper San Juan SNOTEL and over 7 inches in nearby CoCoRaHS reports - those are citizen weather observers.
For perspective, only the infamous October 1911 “Sonora hurricane” flood rivals it—they saw heavier bursts of rain for a day or two, but this year’s back-to-back waves likely delivered greater 5–7 day totals.
The silver lining: Vallecito and other small reservoirs got a boost, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows rare two-category improvements across the southwest corner, and 7-day average flows on the Animas and Rio Grande hit near-record fall levels—now all eyes turn to the snowpack season.
