Flash Flood, Pitkin
- When
- August 6, 4:30 PM MST to 5:00 PM MST
- Where
- Pitkin County, 2 mi S of Redstone
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 39.217, -106.917 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Colorado, August 6, 2001
Heavy rain from a strong thunderstorm resulted in water up to a foot deep along Highway 133 south of Redstone, along with mud and rock slides across portions of the highway.
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
- 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.
Heavy rain from a strong thunderstorm resulted in water up to a foot deep along Highway 133 south of Redstone, along with mud and rock slides across portions of the highway.
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 6, 1:25 PM MST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 6, 1:25 PM MST, 3 hours 5 minutes before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
225 PM MDT MON AUG 6 2001
TONIGHT: SHORTWAVE OVER WESTERN CO SHOWING ASPECTS OF A TRUE
EASTERLY WAVE WITH ALL ENHANCEMENT ON THE EAST SIDE OF VORT AXIS.
18Z RUC INDICATES VORT CENTER AMBLES NW TO NEAR RANGELY BY 06Z WHICH
KEEPS MOST OF CURRENT WATCH AREA IN UPLIFT AREA. AREA OF CONCERN ARE
THE GORE/PARK RANGES AND STEAMBOAT AS STRONG LINE OF CONVECTION MOVES
IN FROM THE EAST. WILL UPDATE WATCH TO INCLUDE ALL CO ZONES. STORMS
MAY LAST BEYOND MIDNIGHT AND WATCH CAN THEN BE REDEFINED OR DROPPED.
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY: WATER VAPOR SHOWS THE EDGE OF BARRY-INDUCED
MOISTURE THRU MUCH OF OKLAHOMA AND HEADING WEST. BATTLE OF WEAK
NORTH FLOW IN UTAH AND SE FLOW IN WESTERN CO MAY BE AREA OF FOCUS.
EXPECT ANOTHER ROUND OF HEAVY RAINFALL TUE-TUE NIGHT. NORTH FLOW
BEGINS TO WIN OUT ON WED AS HIGH BUILDS IN FROM THE WEST. THIS WOULD
SEEM TO BE A DRYER REGIME BUT GUIDANCE HOLDS ON TO HIGH POPS. WILL
KEEP SCATTERED IN THE FORECAST FOR NOW AND REFINE TUESDAY. AS USUAL
MAV TEMPS APPEAR TOO COOL. 99/RAMEY
EXTENDED...MRF DEPICTS THE MAIN JET ALONG THE U.S./CANADIAN BORDER
FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. FLOW ACROSS THE SOUTHERN U.S. WILL
CONTINUE TO BE WEAK. THE SHORTWAVE CURRENTLY OVER WESTERN COLORADO IS
EXPECTED TO DRIFT WEST BY MID WEEK, WHILE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER
THE SOUTHWEST PART OF THE COUNTRY. THIS SHOULD BRING BACK A RETURN TO
MORE NORTHERLY AND WESTERLY FLOW, DRYING THE FA OUT A LITTLE.
DESPITE DRIER CONDITIONS, A SERIES OF WEAK SHORTWAVES WILL CONTINUE
TO MEANDER ACROSS IN THE AREA. SO...WILL ESSENTIALLY BROADBRUSH THE
EXTENDED WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF CONVECTION EACH DAY. BA
.GJT...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH MIDNIGHT FOR ALL OF WESTERN COLORADO
AND UTZ 022/025/027/028/029.The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
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
- Heat in Pennsylvania, August 6 to 10, 2001
- Heat in Illinois, August 6 to 9, 2001
- Heat in Michigan, August 6 to 9, 2001
- Heat in Wisconsin, August 6 to 9, 2001
- Heat in Maryland, August 6 to 10, 2001
- Heat in New Jersey, August 6 to 10, 2001
- Heat in Maryland, August 6 to 10, 2001
- Damaging Wind and Lightning Strike in Texas, August 6, 2001
- Heat in Texas, August 6, 2001
- Flash Flood in Florida, August 6 to 9, 2001
- Flash Flood in Florida, August 6, 2001
- Tropical Storm in Alabama, August 6, 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: 5264330.