Name: Lightning Strike in Colorado, July 15, 2001
Start: 2001-07-15T15:00
End: 2001-07-15T15:00
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: 1
Property damage: $250
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.

A man with a fishing pole in his hand had just stepped out of his boat and onto a dock at Lake Pagosa when lightning struck him. The lightning initially struck the fishing pole and traveled through the man who suffered burns.

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 Jul 15, 1:00 PM MST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 1:00 PM MST, 2 hours before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
200 PM MDT SUN JUL 15 2001

MODELS OF CHOICE TODAY ARE THE ETA/AVN WHICH CONTINUE IN FAIR
AGREEMENT FOR THE SHORTER PERIODS. BELIEVE BOTH OVERDO THE DRYING
INFLUENCES OF THE SOUTHWEST FLOW NEXT 48 HOURS. SFC DEW POINTS WELL
INTO THE 50 LOWER ELEVATIONS AND 40S AT ALTITUDE. WE SHOULD SEE A
RETURN TO MORNING SUNSHINE AND AFTERNOON CLOUDS WITH TSRA EXTENDING
INTO THE EVENING.

IT WILL TAKE A DAY OR TWO OF CONVECTION TO REDUCE THE LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE. STORMS TO BECOME LESS WIDESPREAD...BUT WILL HAVE
INCREASED INTENSITY POTENTIAL. MID LAYER DRYING...60KT JET NOSING IN
THIS AFTERNOON WHICH WILL INCREASE TO 70 TO 80 KTS MONDAY. FAVORABLE
WIND PROFILE AT LOWEST LEVELS WITH NICE SPEED SHEAR IN THE COLUMN.
BEST CAPES WILL APPROACH 1800 AT PEAK HEATING TODAY.
. CROWLEY/21

EXTENDED: MEDIUM-RANGE MODELS INSIST ON DRY CONDITIONS IN SW FLOW.
WEST-COAST TROF IS BASICALLY STATIONARY THRU THE WORK WEEK...WITH
THE RIDGE BUILDING BACK TO VICINITY OF FOUR-CORNERS FOR THE WEEKEND.
EXPECT DRYING TREND TO BE SLOWER THAN PROGGED ESPECIALLY IN LOWER
LEVELS...SO WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE IN SOUTHERN ZONES AND ALONG
THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE.  TEMPERATURES WILL RECOVER TO NEAR NORMAL...
ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE WEEKEND UNLESS OFFSET BY INCREASED AFTERNOON
CLOUDS/SHOWERS.  LOWER CONFIDENCE BRINGS THE FORECAST CLOSER TO
CLIMATOLHOGY.  RAMEY

.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 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Archuleta

When: July 15, 3:00 PM MST
Where: Archuleta County, 3 mi W of Pagosa Spgs
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.194, -107.048 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

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, July 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: 5257752.