Flash Flood, San Miguel
- When
- August 9, 2:25 PM MST to 3:00 PM MST
- Where
- San Miguel County, Fall Creek
- Reported by
- BROADCAST MEDIA
- Coordinates
- 38.004, -108.406 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Colorado, August 9, 2001
Heavy rain from nearby thunderstorms triggered a mudslide, which left 5 feet of mud on Highway 145 and closed the highway for several hours.
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 nearby thunderstorms triggered a mudslide, which left 5 feet of mud on Highway 145 and closed the highway for several hours.
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 9, 11:48 AM MST, 2 hours 37 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 9, 11:48 AM MST, 2 hours 37 minutes before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
1248 PM MDT THU AUG 9 2001
...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR WESTERN COLORADO AND MOST OF EASTERN UTAH
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...
PINPOINTING WHERE SLOW-MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WILL
DEVELOP IS THE MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM TODAY. MID-LEVEL SUBSIDENCE
FOLLOWING MESO-COMPLEX HELP CLEAR SKIES THIS MORNING...BUT PLENTY OF
MOISTURE REMAINS IN PLACE/ SFC DEWPTS NEAR 60F/ FOR THE SUN TO WORK
ON. BLV SOLAR INSULATION WILL BUILD ENERGY BENEATH WEAK MIDLVL CAP
WHICH SHOULD POP LATE THIS AFTERNOON ALLOWING FOR DEEP CONVECTION.
15Z GOES SOUNDING SHOWS SATURATED ATMOS ABOVE 700 MB WITH POTENTIAL
FOR PLENTY OF CAPE. AWIPS SOUNDING SHOWS 1500J OF ELEVATED CAPE ABOVE
LFC WITH FCST MAX TEMP OF ONLY 84. THETA-E RIDGE REMAINS OVER THE
AREA AS WELL. WEAKER DYNAMIC TRIGGER THIS EVENING...AS SMALLISH VORT
MAX MOVING OVER THE AREA ABOUT 03Z IS THE ONLY FEATURE LESS
IMPRESSIVE THAN WEDNESDAY. ALL POINTS TO LATER START FOR CONVECTION
BUT MAY RESULT IN STRONGER CELLS. WILL HAVE MUCH HIGHER POPS FOR
FIRST PERIOD EVERYWHERE WITH HEAVY RAIN PSBL IN ALMOST EVERY ZONE.
GUIDANCE TEMPS FOR GJT SHOW BROAD VARIANCE BTWN MODELS...WITH MEX
DRASTICALLY COOL AND FWC NUMBER NEAR NORMAL FOR FRI. WILL GO JUST
BELOW WARMER GUIDANCE FOR FRI AS CLEARING/DRYING CONDITIONS SHOULD
PUSH IN WITH MORE NWLY FLOW FRIDAY AFTERNOON. CUOCO
IN THE EXTENDED (SUN-THU)...MRF BACKED OFF DEVELOPING PAC NW TROUGH
EARLY NEXT WEEK...WITH ALL MODELS NOW SHOWING RIDGE OVER THE
SOUTHWEST THROUGH THE PERIOD. UPPER HIGH CENTER NEAR THE 4-CORNERS
EARLY NEXT WEEK...WITH SOME RETROGRESSION INDICATED WED AND THU.
MAY HAVE SOME SMALLER DISTURBANCES TOPPING RIDGE IN NW FLOW WED
AND THU BUT WILL ASSUME MAIN IMPACT WOULD BE EAST OF CWA AT THE
MOMENT. SOME MOISTURE LIKELY TO REMAIN UNDERNEATH RIDGE...BUT THIS
PATTERN SHOULD NOT REALLY FAVOR STRONG MONSOONAL MOISTURE INPUT. WILL
THUS INDICATE SOME DRYING ACROSS NE UT AND NW CO BY WED. OTHERWISE...
WILL NOT MAKE MUCH CHANGE TO CURRENT FORECAST OF WIDELY SCT/SCT
DIURNAL CONVECTION MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS. JAD
WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH EMERGENCY MANAGERS SHOULD MAINTAIN
A HIGH LEVEL OF WEATHER AWARENESS FOR THIS EVENING DUE TO THE
POTENTIAL FOR LOCAL HEAVY RAIN.
.GJT...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR ALL OF WESTERN COLORADO
AND MOST OF EASTERN UTAH...COZ01>23...UTZ22/25/27>29.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
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, August 9, 2001
- Heat in Missouri, August 9, 2001
- Heat in Texas, August 9, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in New York, August 9, 2001
- Flood and Damaging Winds in Wisconsin, August 9, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, August 9, 2001
- Flash Flood and Hail in Ohio, August 9, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Michigan, August 9, 2001
- Lightning Strike in New York, August 9, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Texas, August 9, 2001
- Lightning Strike in North Dakota, August 9, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Vermont, August 9, 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: 5264323.