1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 10, 1:30 PM MST, 7 hours 30 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 230 PM MDT THU MAY 10 2001 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: SHORT WAVE MOVING EAST OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. LINGERING MOISTURE FOR SOME CLOUDS AND PERHAPS A FEW SHOWERS ACROSS THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS TOWARD LIMON FOR THE EARLY EVENING. MUCH DRIER AIR ALOFT MOVING INTO THE NRN BORDER AREAS FOR GOOD COOLING IN MOST LOCATIONS. SYNOPTIC SCALE LIGHT ELY GRADIENT WILL CONTINUE...BUT THREAT OF STRATUS IS UNCERTAIN. POSSIBILITY OF BIG NEARBY CONVECTION PUSHING DEEP MOISTURE IN SEEMS KIND OF LOW AND CURRENT MOISTURE SEEMS INSUFFICIENT...BUT ETA AND FSL MM5 INSIST ON INCREASING THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE OVERNIGHT...AND THE MM5 EVEN GENERATES SOME SHOWERS AGAIN THIS EVENING AND THEN DRIZZLE IN THE MORNING. THIS SEEMS TO BE OVERDONE AS THE PROSPECT OF MASSIVE CONVECTION NEARBY SEEMS LOW AND CURRENT MOISTURE SEEMS INSUFFICIENT. I WILL TRY FOR A MOSTLY CLEAR NIGHT...WE WILL SEE. GIMMESTAD LONG TERM DISCUSSION: HOT DRY AIRMASS EXPANDING OVR THE DESERT SOUTHWEST AND SRN GREAT BASIN WILL HOLD BACK ANOTHER DAY UNTIL UPR RIDGE OVR STATE ON SAT. UNTIL THEN LGT NWLY FLOW WILL ALLOW A WK SURGE OF COOL RELATIVELY MOIST LOW LVL AIR TO SLIP INTO NERN CO SOMETIME AROUND DAY BREAK FRI AS PER ETA AND AVN. WITH FRONTAL BNDRY PUSHED UP AGAINST FNT RNG FTHLS SHOULD SEE SCT/BKN LOW CLOUD CVR DURING MRNG HRS...MAINLY IN AND NEAR THE FOOTHILLS AND URBAN CORRIDOR...BUT WITH WARMING ALOFT AND WITH LACK OF UPR AIR SUPPORT DO NOT SEE ANY PCPN IN THE MTNS AND ONLY A FEW MORNING SPRINKLES OUT IN THE WASHINGTON...LOGAN... PHILLIPS AND SEDGWICK CTYS WHERE COOL MOIST BNDRY LYR AIR MAY BE DEEP ENOUGH. MODELS THEN FLUSH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE OUT WITH A REVERSAL OF WINDS DURING THE AFTN HRS ALLOWING FOR A QUICK REBOUND IN TEMPS...BUT NOT TO THE LEVEL SEEN THIS /THU/ AFTN. DURING FRI NGT/SAT TIME PD MODELS SHOW WRN RIDGE STRENGTHENING SLOWLY AS IT/S AXIS PASSES OVR THE CONT DVD. POCKETS OF MID-LVL MOISTURE AND UNSTABILITY ROUNDING TOP OF RIDGE MAY BE ENOUGH TO SUPPORT A FEW SHWRS/TSTMS IN THE MTNS AND FTHLS LATE IN THE DAY SAT...WHILE THE PLAINS REMAIN DRY...MOSUNNY AND UNSEASONABLY WARM. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...THE UPPER RIDGE MOVES EAST OF AREA BY SUN WITH LATEST AVN SHOWING SOUTHERLY LOW/MID-LVL FLOW TRANSPORTING A FETCH OF GULF MOISTURE UP IN THE COLORADO...RESEMBLING A WK MONSOON PATTERN. MOST OF THIS MOISTURE APRS TO REMAIN OVR THE MTNS...HWVR ETA HAS SOME OF THIS MOISTURE FLOWING UP OVR THE ERN PLAINS DURING THE DAY SUN. FOR NOW WILL AVOID MAKING ANY BIG CHANGE TO ONGOING EXTENDED FCST...HWVR WILL ADD A CHANCE FOR AFTN/EVE SHWRS/TSTMS ON SUN TO THE MTN ZONES. IF SHWRS/CLOUD CVR MORE WIDESPREAD ON SUNDAY...OBVIOUSLY THE PLAINS WILL NOT SEE THE MID/UPR 80S THAT MOS GUIDANCE IS GOING FOR. MONDAY AND BEYOND...THINGS DRY OUT AGAIN WITH TEMPS REMAINING ABV NORMAL. BAKER .DEN...NONE.
The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning shocked a woman as she was talking on the phone. She went numb on one side temporarily.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, May 2001
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: 5250063.