Flash Flood in Colorado, July 18, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Colorado, July 18, 2002
Start: 2002-07-18T18:00
End: 2002-07-18T21:00
Location: Colorado

July 18, 2002 · NWS GJT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Flash flooding in Hubbard Gulch and Government Creek damaged 11 buildings, including homes and businesses, and tore out a section of a road and a culvert. The fairgrounds were also damaged.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $158,000
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.

Flash flooding in Hubbard Gulch and Government Creek damaged 11 buildings, including homes and businesses, and tore out a section of a road and a culvert. The fairgrounds were also damaged. The flooding was designated an event which occurs only once every 400 years in the Rifle area.

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 18, 1:38 PM MST, 4 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 1:38 PM MST, 4 hours 22 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
238 PM MDT THU JUL 18 2002

CWFA WITHIN ENHANCED SOUTHERLY FLOW AS UPPER HIGH SITS OVER
NORTHEAST COLORADO...AND AN UPPER LOW APPROACHES WESTERN NEVADA.
A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS RESIDES OVER EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN
COLORADO THIS AFTERNOON WITH GOES SOUNDER PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES
HOVERING AROUND 1.00 INCH OVER EXTREME WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN
UTAH. THIS SUGGESTS POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL WETTING RAIN THIS
EVENING WITH THUNDERSTORMS.

UPPER LEVEL CONVERGENCE ZONE OVER CENTRAL UTAH...WILL SHIFT EAST
OVERNIGHT AND FRIDAY. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL
GRADUALLY DIMINISH LATER THIS EVENING HOWEVER...WEAK ISENTROPIC
UPGLIDE SEEN AT THE 330K SURFACE AND S/W ENERGY ROTATING ACROSS THE
AREA COULD SUPPORT SHOWERS AND ISOLD THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT...
ESPECIALLY ACROSS EASTERN UTAH. FIRE CONCERNS WILL INCLUDE GUSTY AND
ERRATIC WINDS WITH STORMS THIS EVENING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL
OVER BURNED AREAS...MAINLY ABOVE 8K FEET.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY...LITTLE CHANGE IN OVERALL PATTERN WITH UPPER HIGH
REMAINING OVER ERN COLORADO. AREA WILL REMAIN WITHIN MOIST SOUTHERLY
FETCH WITH THE THREAT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING. SFC
DEWPTS WILL RISE INTO 50-55F RANGE ACROSS THE LOWER VALLEYS...
SUGGESTING THE POTENTIAL FOR RAINFALL IN THESE AREAS...WHERE STORMS
OCCUR. UPPER LEVEL ENERGY OVER NEVADA WILL SHEAR NORTHEAST SATURDAY
AS UPPER HIGH FLATTENS AND FLOW SHIFTS TO WEST-SOUTHWEST...BRINGING
SLIGHTLY DRIER MID-HIGH LEVEL AIR INTO AREA FOR SUNDAY. WILL COOL
TEMPS 3-5F DEGREES FROM TODAY GIVEN EXPECTED CLOUD COVER AND LOWER
HEIGHTS.

SUNDAY...UPPER HIGH REDEVELOPS NEAR THE 4-CORNERS WITH RIDGE AXIS
EXTENDING ACROSS UTAH. CWFA IN DRIER NORTHWEST FLOW WITH DIURNALLY-
DRIVEN CONVECTION OVER THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS ONCE AGAIN. TEMPS WILL
REBOUND SLIGHTLY AFTER A BRIEF RETURN TO NORMAL TEMPS FRI-SAT.
NADLER.83

EXTENDED...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...LAST EVENINGS MRF IS BACK TO
LEAVING THE HIGH MEANDERING OVER THE FOUR CORNERS AREA. EC
RETROGRADES HIGH MORE INTO NEVADA. SLIGHT DRYING AND WARMING DURING
THE PERIOD AS SENSIBLE WEATHER CLOSE WITH EITHER SOLUTION. WILL
CONTINUE CURRENT FORECAST TREND. DJC/21

.GJT...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Garfield

When: July 18, 6:00 PM MST to 9:00 PM MST
Where: Garfield County, Rifle
Property damage: $158,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.599, -107.904 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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, 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: 5311483.