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 29, 1:30 PM MST, 5 hours 9 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 230 PM MDT TUE MAY 29 2001 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: MAIN H5 TROF AXIS PASSING OVR ERN CO THIS AFTN EXTENDS NWWRD TO DEEP UPR LOW SPINNING OVR SRN CANADIAN ROCKIES. STG W-NWLY JET ON SOUTH SIDE OF UPR LOW WILL DRIVE NEXT BATCH OF MID-LVL ENERGY...MOISTURE AND COLD AIR ACROSS SERN ID/NRN UT/SWRN WY OVRNGT. MEANWHILE LINE OF T-STORMS FIRING ALG 700-300MB NEG DIV Q AXIS AND DEFORMATION ZONE PASSING OVR CWFA THIS AFTN PROGD TO RACE SEWRD OUT OF ALL BUT EXTREME SERN PORTIONS OF OUR CWFA BY 00Z UTC/WED. THETA-E AND HUMIDITY GRIDS SHOW BOUNDARY LYR DRYING OUT THIS EVE AS DRIER/STABLE AIR MIXES DOWN OFF THE FRONT RNG WITH NWLY FLOW AT ALL LVLS. FARTHER UPSTREAM...SFC COLD FNT SLIPPING THRU NRN UT AND ERN ID ATTENDED TO H7 SHRTWV TROF MARKING LEADING EDGE OF VRY COOL AIR ALOFT OVR THE PAC NORTHWEST. THIS MID-LVL COLD POOL IS PROGD TO SLIDE E-SEWRD OVR ERN WY AND NERN CO WED MRNG. SFC-700MB WIND...PRES AND MOISTURE GRIDS SHOW COLD FRONT SLIDING E ACRS SERN WY THIS EVE...THEN DROPPING SWRD THRU NERN CO AFTER MIDNIGHT. COLD FRONT APRS TO ARRIVE IN THE DEN METRO AREA SOMETIME BTWN 06Z-09Z TONIGHT...BUT NOT UNTIL AFTER 12Z/WED DO MODELS SHOW LOW LEVELS JUICING UP WITH NELY ANTICYCLONIC FLOW DEEPENING. PRECIP GRIDS SHOW A FEW HUNDREDTHS RAIN ACCUMULATING BY 18Z/WED IN AND NEAR THE FRNT RNG FTHLS DUE LARGELY TO OROGRAPHIC FORCING. WHEREAS FARTHER OUT ON THE PLAINS...ATMOSPHERE LOOKS TOO COOL AND STABLE FOR ANYTHING MORE THAN A COVER OF LOW CLOUDS DURING THE MORNING AND ERLY AFTN HRS. DO NOT SEE MUCH OF A CHANCE FOR TSTORM ACTVTY ON THE PLAINS WED WITH INTERACTIVE SOUNDINGS LOOKING TOO STABLE. WHEREAS IN THE MTNS... WILL KP MENTION OF SCT SHWRS AND THUNDERSTORMS WED BECAUSE OF DESTABILIZATION WITH PASSAGE OF MID-LVL SHRTWV/THERMAL TROF ARND MIDDAY. HWVR BECAUSE PRECIPITABLE WATER AMTS NOT LOOKING THAT IMPRESSIVE PRECIP AMTS SHOULD BE LOW AND SPOTTY. BY WED EVE... THINGS DRY OUT EVERYWHERE WITH MID-LVL WARMING AND SUBSIDENCE BEHIND SHRTWV. STILL WOULD NOT RULE OUT AN ISOLATED ERLY EVE SHWR/TSTORM IN AND ALG FTHLS AND OVR MONUMENT RIDGE BECAUSE OF LATE AFTN HEATING. LONG TERM DISCUSSION: MEDIUM RANGE MODELS SHOW CWFA DRY AND UNSEASONABLY WARM THRU EXTENDED PD AS LARGE UPR RIDGE OF HIGH PRES EXPANDS OVR EWRD OVR RCKY MTN RGN. MOS GUIDANCE SHOWING STEADY WARMING THRU THE PD WITH MAX TEMPS ON THE PLAINS IN THE MID 80S TO AROUND 90 BY SAT. OVRALL EXTENDED LOOKS GOOD BUT MAY WARM TEMPS A FEW DEGS IN EACH ZONE. BAKER .DEN...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning sparked a fire at an apartment complex, forcing the evacuation of 24 units. Most of the fire damage was confined to the attic.
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: 5250235.