Flash Flood, Mesa
- When
- August 3, 3:30 PM MST to 4:15 PM MST
- Where
- Mesa County, Redlands
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 39.018, -108.466 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Colorado, August 3, 2001
Strong thunderstorms over the Colorado National Monument sent torrents of water rushing down small canyons and streams that drop down into the Redlands. An eight foot wall of water surged through a gully adjacent to a subdivision.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $25,000
- 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.
Strong thunderstorms over the Colorado National Monument sent torrents of water rushing down small canyons and streams that drop down into the Redlands. An eight foot wall of water surged through a gully adjacent to a subdivision. One small stream went out of its banks and flooded a home, leaving over 3 feet of mud in the garage. The flooding also destroyed landscaping around the home and several places on the Tiara Rado golf course. Nearby irrigation ditches were clogged with mud and debris which took over a week to clean out.
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 3, 11:15 AM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 11:15 AM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 1215 PM MDT FRI AUG 3 2001 AN ACTIVE AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN STORE. MOISTURE IS IN PLACE WITH 50S DEWPOINTS AND PRECIP WATER AT 1.1 INCH AT GJT/ABQ/FGZ. GOES SOUNDER SHOWING A STRONG MOISTURE GRADIENT...FROM 1.3 INCH IN EASTERN UT TO 0.6 INCH ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. SHORTWAVE IN CENTRAL AZ AT 12Z TO MOVE ACROSS THE UT/CO AT 06Z WITH SYNOPTIC FORCING COMPLETE BY ABOUT 08Z. BOUNDARY INTERACTION MAY KEEP ISOLATED CELLS PRECIPING INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. LOW SHEAR ENVIRONMENT WILL PRODUCE PULSE STORMS. STORM MOTION TO THE NE AT 15 MPH...SLOWER NEAR THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN MENTIONED IN EVERY ZONE...THOUGH BEST MOISTURE WOULD FAVOR WEST AND NORTH ZONES. SATURDAY...WEST-COAST TROF ADDS A DRY WESTERLY COMPONENT TO THE FLOW. DIURNAL STORMS TO BE ISOLATED/WIDELY SCATTERED FAVORING THE SOUTH AND EAST MOUNTAINS. LESS MOISTURE/CLOUDS AND WARMER 700 TEMPS WILL BEGIN A WARMING TREND. SUNDAY...UPPER HIGH BEGINS BUILDS INTO NORTH-CENTRAL CO. ONLY SIGNIFICANT MOISTURE WILL BE IN EAST FLOW OVER THE SOUTHERN ZONES. TEMPERATURES CLIMB WELL ABOVE AVERAGE WITH 700 TEMPS UP TO 18C UNDER THE HIGH CENTER. NOT AS MUCH WARMING SOUTH. RAMEY EXTENDED...MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT RETROGRADING UPPER HIGH INTO THE ROCKIES BY START OF NEXT WEEK. HOWEVER...BIG QUESTION IS HOW MUCH MID/UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO ROTATE THROUGH THIS FEATURE...AND WHERE WILL EVENTUAL REMNANTS OF BARRY GO. LOOKS AS THOUGH MON/TUE/WED WILL BE THE DRIEST DAYS WITH HIGH ANCHORED OVER THE REGION. WILL WORD WITH ISOLATED MOUNTAIN CONVECTION. MORE MOIST EASTERLY FLOW ACROSS SOUTHERN TIER WILL RETURN MOISTURE TO THE CWFA BY THU. THUS...WILL ADD POPS FOR THU/FRI. VARYING SOLUTIONS PROVIDED FOR FUTURE MOVEMENTS OF BARRY. NOGAPS BRINGS CIRCULATION/MOISTURE AS FAR WEST AS TEXAS BY WEDNESDAY...WHILE CANADIAN TAKES BULK OF MOISTURE INTO A WESTERN ATLANTIC TROUGH. MRF SOLUTION SHEARS BARRY APART AND BRINGS REMNANTS TOWARD NORTHERN MEXICO/TEXAS BY WEDNESDAY AS AN EASTERLY WAVE. WILL TREND TOWARD THE LATTER SOLUTION. WARMER TEMPS TO START THE WEEK. CNJ .GJT...NONE.
The radar
The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 22 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:31 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood in Kentucky, August 3 to 4, 2001
- Heat in Texas, August 3, 2001
- Flash Flood in Kentucky, August 3 to 4, 2001
- Hail and Lightning Strikes in Massachusetts, August 3, 2001
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Iowa, August 3, 2001
- Lightning Strike in New Mexico, August 3, 2001
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in New York, August 3, 2001
- Hurricane in Guam, August 3 to 4, 2001
- Flash Flood in New York, August 3, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Massachusetts, August 3, 2001
- Dense Fog in Wisconsin, August 3, 2001
- Flash Flood in Kentucky, August 3, 2001
More
Every storm in Colorado in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5264335.