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From: Jesse Ferrell (WeatherMatrix) - Offsite (ferrell{at}weathermatrix.net)
Date: Tue Aug 23 2005 - 11:20:55 EDT
There was a 23-car pileup yesterday afternoon in Colorado. Often an
Interstate pileup is caused by heavy rain or snow, and people are asking if
heavy rain caused this one.
Here is a map of the incident area (the article below said it happened just
north of the 470).
http://www.weathermatrix.net/2005/0822/map.png
Here is a radar animation during that time period provided by
RadarPlus.AccuWeather.com:
http://www.weathermatrix.net/2005/0822/radaranimation.gif
(note that the accident was just east of the Tri-County airport)
This area received rains at 60+ if not 65+ dBZ, according to the radar,
around 3pm.
http://www.weathermatrix.net/2005/0822/3.png
But in this case, the road may have been slick from rain, but there hadn't
been heavy rain at the accident site since around 3:15
http://www.weathermatrix.net/2005/0822/7.png
and it was not raining there at all at 3:27
http://www.weathermatrix.net/2005/0822/9.png
so the rain itself didn't cause the pileup.
Storm total rainfalls from the radar indicate that about an inch of rain
fell during the entire storm
http://www.weathermatrix.net/2005/0822/rainfall.png
so I guess it's possible that the road was flooded at the time, enough to
allow for hydroplaning, though one would think most of it would have run
off by 15 minutes after the storm.
Below are quotes from news sources:
<http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4022980,00.html>
"A massive pileup on northbound Interstate 25 Monday involved as many as 23
cars but resulted in no serious injuries, according to the Colorado State
Patrol and North Metro Fire and Rescue. The Colorado State Patrol is
investigating the accident and said rain- slicked roads were a factor. "
<http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/broomfield_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2495_4021676,00.html>
"A series of multiple car accidents or one large accident, possibly
involving as many as 50 cars, prompted Broomfield police to close
northbound Interstate 25 this afternoon. The collisions occurred at about
3:30 p.m. on a section of I-25 in unincorporated Adams County near
Broomfield, between the E-470 on- ramp and the Colorado 7 off-ramp, North
Metro spokeswoman Wendy Krajewski said. It was unclear if the pileup was
one accident or a series of multiple accidents, O'Connell said. It also was
unclear what caused the crash and/or crashes, but reports were that a
severe weather cell moved through the area just before police received the
first report at 3:29 p.m., O'Connell said. "
--
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Jesse Ferrell - Meteorologist / Webmaster / Founder - WeatherMatrix
10,000 Weather Enthusiasts Can't Be Wrong! www.weathermatrix.net
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