Name: Flood in Colorado, August 14, 2001
Start: 2001-08-14T08:20
End: 2001-08-14T08:45
Location: Colorado

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.

Minor flooding was reported in the town of Rifle after a line of strong thunderstorms dropped over 0.50 of an inch of rain in less than 30 minutes.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 14, 1:30 AM MST, 6 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 1:30 AM MST, 6 hours 50 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
230 AM MDT TUE AUG 14 2001

STRATIFORM SHOWERS WITH EMBEDDED CONVECTION OCCURRING AS THE TROF
AXIS APPROACHES.  SURFACE IS SATURATED BUT EXPECT STIRRING SHOWERS
TO KEEP FOG MAINLY LIMITED TO HIGHER ELEVATIONS.  LOW CLOUDS ALL
ZONES THIS MORNING.  TROF AXIS THRU THE NW HALF OF CWFA BY 18Z WITH
PLENTY OF MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY IN ITS WAKE.  STILL EXPECT SOME
PARTIAL CLEARING IN EASTERN UTAH-FAR WESTERN CO THIS MORNING WHICH
MAY ONLY HELP WITH AFTERNOON CONVECTION. ACTIVE BAND IN WESTERN
UT AT 07Z PROGGED TO PASS THRU AT 00Z. OROGRAPHICS TO ALSO HELP THE
NORTHERN MTNS THRU THE DAY.  STORM MOTION TO THE SE AT 15-20MPH WILL
LIMIT RUNOFF PROBLEMS, THOUGH SATURATED SOILS DONT NEED MUCH.
TEMPERATURES SIMILAR TO MONDAY...EXCEPT COOLER NORTH.

TONIGHT: FLOW VEERS TO NORTH AND SHOWERS TO END IN THE EVENING. COOL
NIGHT EXPECTED WITH FOG A POSSIBILITY. COOL FRONT SPILLS DOWN THE
FRONT RANGE FOR LITTLE EFFECT THIS SIDE OF THE DIVIDE.

WEDNESDAY: ANOTHER DISTURBANCE IN MOIST NW FLOW KEEPS A CHANCE OF
CONVECTION, ESPECIALLY NORTH-FACING MTNS. 700MB CONVERGENCE
PROGGED ALONG THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE SAN JUAN MTNS KEEPS POPS
THERE ALSO.  TEMPERATURES RECOVERY BEGINS.

EXTENDED: NEW MRF SHOWS GOOD CONTINUITY AND PROMISES SUMMER IS NOT
OVER YET.  RETURN OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE STILL PROGGED FOR MONDAY.
NO CHANGES NEEDED.

99/RAMEY

WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH EMERGENCY MANAGERS SHOULD MAINTAIN
A HEIGHTENED LEVEL OF WEATHER AWARENESS TODAY DUE TO CONTINUED
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.  HEAVY RAIN WILL NOT BE WIDESPREAD TODAY.
BUT WHERE SOILS ARE VERY WET...MUD AND ROCK FLOWS ARE POSSIBLE WITH
ANY ADDITIONAL RAINFALL.

.GJT...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Garfield

When: August 14, 8:20 AM MST to 8:45 AM MST
Where: Garfield County, Rifle
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.599, -107.904 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Colorado in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, August 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5264317.