1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 15, 2:30 AM MST, 10 hours 30 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 330 AM MDT WED AUG 15 2001 RADAR STILL SHOWING SOME LINGERING SHOWERS IN THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS MAINLY SOUTH OF I-70 THIS MORNING. THEY ARE APPARENTLY BEING CAUSED BY UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE SHOWN BY WATER VAPOR AND POT VORT FIELDS. HOWEVER...CLOUD TOPS ON INFRARED SATELLITE ARE WARMING NOW SO SHOWERS SHOULD CONTINUE TO WEAKEN...BUT WILL STILL HAVE TO MENTION A FEW EARLY THIS MORNING OVER THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS. WATER VAPOR SHOWS ANOTHER WEAK DISTURBANCE CURRENTLY OVER IDAHO AND THIS SUGGESTED BY MODEL VORT/POT VORT AND JET FIELDS TO REACH THE AREA THIS EVENING. AS FORCING INCREASES AHEAD OF THESE FEATURES AND DAYTIME HEATING DESTABILIZES ATMOSPHERE...EXPECT MORE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP IN/NEAR THE MOUNTAINS AND SPREAD SOUTHEAST IN MEAN FLOW ALOFT. EVEN ON THE FAR EASTERN PLAINS THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE SO CANT RULE OUT A FEW STORMS IN THE NORTHEAST CORNER. THEREFORE...POPS WILL BE BUMPED UP A TAD ESPECIALLY TONIGHT AS SOME FRONTOGENESIS AND HINTS OF JET IN THE REGION MAY KEEP ACTIVITY GOING LONGER. LONGMONT ANTICYCLONE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TODAY SO UPSLOPE OVER THE DENVER METRO AREA SHOULD HELP SHOWERS/STORMS GET GOING. TEMPS WILL BE BELOW NORMAL FOR THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS WITH COOL SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING IN FROM THE NORTH AND SOME CLOUDS AROUND. IT MAY EVEN BE A BIT COOLER TOMORROW IF FRONTOGENETICAL CLOUD BANDS DEVELOP. THEN IT LOOKS LIKE A WARMING AND DRYING TREND WILL ESTABLISH ITSELF FOR THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. GOING FORECAST HANDLES THIS WELL. BARJENBRUCH .DEN...NONE.
COZ030>051-152000- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1111 AM MDT WED AUG 15 2001 THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES ADAMS ARAPAHOE BOULDER CLEAR CREEK DENVER DOUGLAS ELBERT GILPIN GRAND JACKSON JEFFERSON LARIMER LINCOLN LOGAN MORGAN PARK PHILLIPS SEDGWICK SUMMIT WASHINGTON WELD SYNOPSIS: NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT HAS SETTLED OVER THE FORECAST AREA FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE AIR MASS AT THE SURFACE HAS DRIED A BIT FROM YESTERDAY. THE ATMOSPHERE IS FORECAST TO BE FAIRLY UNSTABLE AT THE LOW LEVELS THIS AFTERNOON...BUT FAIRLY STABLE ALOFT. A DISTURBANCE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE IS A STILL QUITE A WAYS UPSTREAM JUST NOW AFFECTING WESTERN WYOMING AND NORTHERN UTAH. THIS IS EXPECTED INTO THE FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. THE AVAILABLE ENERGY TO PRODUCE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IS LACKING. SO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS AFTER 1 PM...OUT ON THE PLAINS AFTER 4 PM. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE REQUIRED. RJK
COZ030>051-152000- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1151 AM MDT WED AUG 15 2001 THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES ADAMS ARAPAHOE BOULDER CLEAR CREEK DENVER DOUGLAS ELBERT GILPIN GRAND JACKSON JEFFERSON LARIMER LINCOLN LOGAN MORGAN PARK PHILLIPS SEDGWICK SUMMIT WASHINGTON WELD SYNOPSIS: NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT HAS SETTLED OVER THE FORECAST AREA FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE AIR MASS AT THE SURFACE HAS DRIED A BIT FROM YESTERDAY. THE ATMOSPHERE IS FORECAST TO BE FAIRLY UNSTABLE AT THE LOW LEVELS THIS AFTERNOON...BUT FAIRLY STABLE ALOFT. A DISTURBANCE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE IS A STILL QUITE A WAYS UPSTREAM JUST NOW AFFECTING WESTERN WYOMING AND NORTHERN UTAH. THIS IS EXPECTED INTO THE FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. THE AVAILABLE ENERGY TO PRODUCE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IS LACKING. SO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS BY 12 NOON AND OUT ON THE PLAINS AFTER 3 PM. THE STORMS WILL PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAINS...SMALL HAIL...AND WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE REQUIRED. RJK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 43-year old man was killed by lightning as he stood under a tree.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Larimer | 2001-08-15 | 43 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, August 2001
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: 5265111.