Hail and Damaging Wind in Colorado, August 22, 2002

Name: Hail and Damaging Wind in Colorado, August 22, 2002
Start: 2002-08-22T17:08
End: 2002-08-22T19:23
Location: Colorado

August 22, 2002 · NWS BOU · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 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 Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 22, 2:07 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 2:07 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute before

NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
307 PM MDT THU AUG 22 2002

SHORT TERM DISCUSSION:  CURRENTLY...RADAR AND SATELLITE PICTURES ARE
INDICATING ISOLATED CONVECTIVE COVERAGE AT BEST.  DEW POINTS ARE IN
40S OVER MOST OF THE PLAINS...WITH A FEW 50S IN THE NORTHEAST
CORNER.  CURRENT ACARS SOUNDS SHOW THE ATMOSPHERE TO BE PRETTY
UNSTABLE.  SOME LOWER 50S DEW POINTS WITH THE CURRENT TEMPERATURES
GIVE 2000 PLUS JOULES OF CAPE.  LOOKING AT ALL THE AREA RADARS AND
SATELLITE PICTURES...CANT FIND ANY APPRECIABLE BOUNDARIES OR
CONVERGENCE AREAS.  POPS IN THE 10% TO 20% RANGE SHOULD SUFFICE.
SKIES SHOULD PARTIALLY CLEAR OVERNIGHT WITH TEMPERATURES A TAD
WARMER THEN THIS MORNINGS READINGS.

FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY DISCUSSION:   BY FRIDAY...GRIDS SHOW THE UPPER
RIDGE CENTER MIGRATING TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST OF COLORADO.  SOME
DECENT SYNOPTIC SCALE ENERGY FROM THE STATIONARY CLOSED LOW OVER
WESTERN OREGON PUSHES ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA STARTING FRIDAY
AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY MORNING.  IN CORRELATION...GRIDS SHOW A LOW
LEVEL CYCLONE DEVELOPING OVER SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO FRIDAY NIGHT
INTO SATURDAY MORNING...WITH SOME UPSLOPE FLOW ACROSS THE PLAINS OF
THE FORECAST AREA ON SATURDAY.  BY 18Z ON SATURDAY FAIRLY STRONG
SUBSIDENCE IN PLACE WITH THE UPPER LEVEL FLOW BECOMING
WEST-NORTHWESTERLY AND A 80-90 KNOT JET MAX MOVING ACROSS THE
NORTHERN BORDER OF COLORADO SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING.
THETA-E/CAPE/DEW POINT GRIDS SHOW THE BEST LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FOR
CONVECTION OVER THE FAR EAST BOTH FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.  BOTH DAYS
HAVE PRETTY DECENT POTENTIAL INSTABILITY ON THE CROSS SECTIONS...BUT
FRIDAYS LAPSE RATES ARE STEEPER.  LOOKING AT SUNDAY...AND LOW LEVEL
FLOW IS PROGGED TO BE SOUTHEASTERLY AND CROSS SECTION SHOW PRETTY
STEEP LAPSE RATES.  FOR POPS...WILL MAKE MINIMAL CHANGES TO CURRENT
PACKAGE AND WILL PUT SOME ISOLATED POPS IN FOR SUNDAY.  FOR
TEMPERATURES...GRIDS SHOW A 1-2.5 C WARM-UP FOR HIGHS ON FRIDAY...
WITH A 1-4 C COOLER DOWN FOR SATURDAYS HIGHS...THEN A REBOUND AGAIN
ON SUNDAY OF 1-3 C.

FOR THE EXTENDED PERIOD...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...MODELS SHOW THE
UPPER RIDGE CENTER TO REMAIN FIRMLY ENTRENCHED SOUTH OF COLORADO IN
NEW MEXICO...WITH THE UPPER RIDGE TO REMAIN OVER THE FORECAST AREA.
THE UPPER FLOW REMAINS SOUTHWESTERLY THROUGH THE PERIOD.  THAT
CLOSED LOW OVER THE NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES ARE STILL LOCATED
NORTHWEST OF COLORADO THROUGH MOST OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD...BUT IT
WEAKENS.  THE MODELS ALSO SHOW SOME SYNOPTIC SCALE ENERGY FROM TIME
TO TIME MOVING INTO THE FORECAST AREA FROM IT.  GRIDS SHOW A LOW
LEVEL SURGE AND UPSLOPE FLOW LATE ON TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY.  THE
GRIDS SHOW IT PRETTY DRY...BUT WILL LEAVE IT TO THE NEXT CREW TO
TAKE THE POPS OUT IF NEED BE.   RJK

.DEN...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 22, 5:08 PM MST, 0 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
608 PM MDT THU AUG 22 2002

...PRELIMINARY STORM REPORT FOR AUGUST 22 2002...

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0608 PM    3 W GENOA                 CO   0.88 HAIL
08/22/02   LINCOLN

RAY

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:05 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Lincoln

When: August 22, 5:08 PM MST
Where: Lincoln County, 3 mi W of Genoa
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.283, -103.550

Thunderstorm Wind, Morgan

When: August 22, 5:32 PM MST
Where: Morgan County, Ft Morgan
Measured: 54 kt (62 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.250, -103.800

Hail, Logan

When: August 22, 7:23 PM MST
Where: Logan County, 23 mi NW of Sterling
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.867, -103.517

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Colorado in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, August 2002

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: 5313035, 5313037, 5313036.