Wildfire, Routt
- When
- July 9, 4:00 PM MST to July 31, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Routt County, 11 mi N of Steamboat Spgs
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.485, -106.991 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in Colorado, July 9 to 31, 2001
Lightning sparked a wildfire which consumed over 440 acres of timber which had been toppled by a wind storm that occurred in 1997. This fire burned into the month of August and was better known as the Mad Creek fire.
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.
Lightning sparked a wildfire which consumed over 440 acres of timber which had been toppled by a wind storm that occurred in 1997. This fire burned into the month of August and was better known as the Mad Creek fire. For more information, please see the August 2001 Storm Data Report.
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 9, 2:00 PM MST, 2 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 9, 2:00 PM MST, 2 hours before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 300 PM MDT MON JUL 9 2001 SOME DIVERGENCE ALOFT ASSOCIATED WITH TODAY/S CONVECTION WITH CLOUD TOPS APPROACHING 50K FEET. ISSUED THE FIRST SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING THIS SEASON EARLIER IN RURAL MONTROSE COUNTY.. AND LO AND BEHOLD VERIFIED IT WITH NICKEL SIZE HAIL AT REDVALE. STRONG STORMS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WITH DIVERGENCE ALOFT.. DEEP SOUTHERLY FLOW.. IN MOIST ADIABATIC PROFILE (ABOVE 650 MB). VORTICITY CENTER TO WATCH WILL BE WAVES MOVING NORTHWARD FROM NORTHERN OLD MEXICO.. THIS WILL HELP KEEP CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY ONGOING THROUGH THE NIGHT. SEE NO CHANGES FOR TUESDAY.. AND IF ANYTHING.. AREAL COVERAGE MIGHT INCREASE AS WEAK GREAT BASIN TROUGH SLOWLY SHIFTS EASTWARD. AVN AND ETA MODEL HANDLE THIS FEATURE DIFFERENTLY.. BUT BELIEVE THAT ETA MAY BE TOO PROGRESSIVE BY PLACING IT OVER WESTERN COLORADO BY WEDNESDAY. BUT AT ANY RATE.. AVN DOES DEEPEN MOISTURE AND DEW POINT DEPRESSION AT 700 MB LOWERS TO AROUND 6C PER GRIDDED MODEL DATA ON BOTH MODELS. WILL TREND POP FORECASTS UPWARDS THROUGH WEDNESDAY.. AND ADD LIKELY POPS TO ALL MOUNTAIN ZONES WITH INCREASED CHANCES OF HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS. TEMPERATURES WILL LOWER WITH INCREASING CLOUD COVERAGE. FRISBIE EXTENDED STILL APPEARS TO BE ON TRACK FOR UPPER RIDGE TO RETREAT TOWARD THE FOUR CORNERS REGION HINDERING NORTHWARD TRANSPORT OF SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE. THIS WILL LEAD TO DRIER CONDITIONS TOWARD THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK AND THE WEEKEND. LATEST MODELS FORECASTS DO INDICATE A MORE MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW BY LATE SATURDAY...BUT WILL HOLD OFF ISSUING POPS FOR VALLEY ZONES. APPEARS THE DIRTY' RIDGE SCENARIO WILL BE SIMILAR TO EARLIER THIS MONTH WHEN CONVECTION WAS MAINLY OVER HIGHER TERRAIN. EXPECT ONLY ISOLATED STORMS WOULD MAKE IT INTO THE VALLEYS...THUS MOST VALLEY AREAS WILL BE DRY. .GJT...NONE.
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jul 9, 1:12 PM MST, 2 hours 48 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION, CO
212 PM MDT MON JUL 9 2001
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0202 PM COVENTRY CO .88 INCH HAIL
07/09/01 MONTROSE REPORTED BY
SPOTTERS
CNJLocal storm report, Jul 9, 2:35 PM MST, 1 hour 25 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION, CO
335 PM MDT MON JUL 9 2001
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0327 PM RIDGWAY CO .88 INCH HAIL
07/09/01 OURAY REPORTED BY CO-OP
OBSERVERSThe radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Wildfire in Washington, July 9 to 23, 2001
- Heat in Pennsylvania, July 9 to 10, 2001
- Flash Flood in Virginia, July 9, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Wyoming, July 9, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in New York, July 9, 2001
- Lightning Strike in New Hampshire, July 9, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Kentucky, July 9, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, July 9, 2001
- Flash Flood in Maine, July 9, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Ohio, July 9, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Kentucky, July 9, 2001
- Damaging Wind in South Carolina, July 9, 2001
More
Every storm in Colorado in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5257747.