Name: Hail in Colorado, July 15, 2002
Start: 2002-07-15T15:00
End: 2002-07-15T15:10
Location: Colorado

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: $25,000
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.

Hail stones up to one inch in diameter damaged several RVs, campers, and trailers at the Stoner Creek campground.

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, 2:10 PM MST, 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 2:10 PM MST, 50 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
310 PM MDT MON JUL 15 2002

MAIN FORECAST CONCERN IS FIRE WEATHER AND POPS.

CONVECTION DEVELOPING ACROSS THE CWA ABOUT AS EXPECTED THIS
AFTERNOON. STORMS MOST NUMEROUS OVER THE SAN JUANS AND NEAR THE
DIVIDE SOUTH OF I-80 WITH LIGHT STEERING WINDS OUT OF THE NORTH AND
NORTHEAST. SPOTTER REPORT FROM NEAR PAGOSA SPRINGS INDICATES SOME
WETTING RAINS OCCURRING CLOSE TO THE NM BORDER BUT GOES PW PRODUCT
AND NEAR TERM FORECAST DATA LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THAT WETTING RAINS
WILL BE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA AND WILL CONTINUE
THE RED FLAG WARNING FOR SOUTHWEST COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH
MOUNTAINS THROUGH 2200 MDT. STORMS SHOULD DISSIPATE SHORTLY AFTER
SUNSET.

WILL USE THE ETA AS THE PRIMARY FORECAST. UPPER RIDGE/HIGH REMAINS
OVER THE FORECAST AREA THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. PER WV IMAGERY...MAIN
MOISTURE FETCH EXTENDS NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS UTAH WITH ANOTHER LARGE
MOISTURE PLUME ADVECTING NORTH ACROSS BAJA CALIFORNIA. FLOW FORECAST
TO REMAIN SO THAT DEEPER MOISTURE REMAINS WEST OF THE FORECAST AREA.
LOW CONFIDENCE IN MODEL HANDLING OF MOISTURE OVER THE SOUTHWEST AND
ANY SHORTWAVE EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW. WILL KEEP POPS LOW THROUGH THE
FORECAST PERIOD...BUT HIGHEST ACROSS THE SOUTH AND WESTERN ZONES.
CONTINUED HOT BUT WILL TREND TEMPERATURES DOWN SLIGHTLY AS ETA
GUIDANCE SUGGESTS. TL

THU-MON...THE UPPER-LEVEL HIGH CENTER SHIFTS TO ITS JULY-CLIMATOLOGY
POSITION OVER THE SE STATES...AND A NORTHERN-BRANCH TROF REMAINS
MILDLY ACTIVE ALONG THE WEST COAST. RESULTING SOUTH-SOUTHWEST
FLOW WILL KEEP THE SUBTROPICAL FETCH POURING INTO THE CENTRAL
ROCKIES. AS IS PRUDENT IN THE MONSOON...WILL BROADBRUSH. RAMEY

.GJT...RED FLAG WARNING ABOVE 7000 FEET THROUGH 2200 MDT THIS
       EVENING FOR WESTERN COLORADO FIRE ZONES 205 AND 207...AND
       EASTERN UTAH ZONES 442...444...445...AND 448.

The radar

The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 165 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Montezuma

When: July 15, 3:00 PM MST to 3:10 PM MST
Where: Montezuma County, Stoner
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.583, -108.317

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Colorado in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, July 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: 5311488.