Flash Flood, San Miguel
- When
- July 22, 12:40 PM MST to 1:30 PM MST
- Where
- San Miguel County, 3 mi E of Telluride
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 38.004, -108.406 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Colorado, July 22, 2002
Several high mountain roads were washed out.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- 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.
Several high mountain roads were washed out.
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 22, 11:45 AM MST, 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 22, 11:45 AM MST, 55 minutes before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 1245 PM MDT MON JUL 22 2002 SURFACE DEW PTS OF 50+ DEGREES AND PW INCREASING FROM NMEX WITH DEEP CONVECTION BLOSSOMING OVER SAN JUAN MTNS..UNCOMPAHGRE AND AREAS SOUTH OF DURANGO AND PAGOSA SPRINGS. ONE SPOTTER S OF DRO REPORTED 3/4 OF AN INCH OF RAIN IN 15 MIN. ANALYSIS AND RUC SHOW PRESSURE GRADIENT INCREASING BETWEEN NE NMEX AND SE UT HELPING PRODUCT SE WINDS OF 10- 20 MPH ASSISTING IN THE MOISTURE PUSH INTO THE 4-CRNRS. MODELS DOING FAIRLY WELL WITH THIS MOISTURE SURGE WITH ACTUAL SFC DEW PT VALUES RUNNING BETWEEN THE ETA AND WETTER AVN PROGGED DATA. TWO VORT MAXES ADDING TO THE CONVECTIVE MIX. ONE OVER NE AZ SPREADING CI CLOUDS SHIELD OVR SE UT AND SW CO. SECOND VORT OVER NE NMEX SLIDING TO WSW AROUND BOTTOM OF CO HIGH AND ASSISTING CONVECTION OVER CNTRL AND WRN NMEX ALONG WITH LOW LVL UPSLOPE FLOW. HAVE ALREADY UPDATED FCST FOR THIS AFTNS TSTMS AND BLV ENUF THINGS HEADING TOWARD AND ALREADY OVER SW CO TO INCREASE POPS THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE THEM LATER THIS EVENING. TUE...HIGHER MODEL PW AND SFC DEW PTS CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTH ALONG CO/UT BORDER WITH AVN AVERAGED 10 DEGREES HIGHER THAN ETA. MODEL TIME/HTS SHOW PEAK MOISTURE AT 12Z TUE WITH DRYING THRUOUT THE REST OF THE DAY...BUT 4-CRNRS DRIES OUT MOST SLOWLY WITH LOW LVL MOISTURE AND SOUTHERLY FLOW CONTINUING. WILL CARRY HIR POPS OVER SRN CO/SERN UT TUE...LOWER OVER REST OF CWA...THO WILL EDGE THEM UP FROM CURRENT FCST. HIGH WOBBLES OVER THE AREA THRU WED AND THO BEST MOISTURE APPEARS WILL BE PUSHED SOUTH...AIRMASS REMAINS MOIST ENUF FOR LOW GRADE AFTN/EVNG TSTMS IN THE MTNS. HIGH CONTINUES OVER THE AREA THUR WITH LITTLE CHG IN THE AIRMASS...BUT AVN SHOWS TWO VORT MAXES /WITH PROBABLE CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK/ RIDING OVER NE UT AND NW CO THU AFTN. CJC EXTENDED (FRI-MON)...LATEST MRF NOW SHOWING A FLATTER WESTERLY COMPONENT TO THE UPPER LEVEL PATTERN AS WE HEAD INTO THE WEEKEND. THIS WL SUPPRESS SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE TO OUR SOUTH...LEAVING THE BULK OF THE FORECAST AREA DRY. THE EXCEPTION WILL BE ISOLATED MTN CONVECTION...WHICH WE CAN COVER WITH LOW POPS FOR NOW. RDG STARTS TO REGAIN STRENGTH OVER THE ROCKIES BY THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW WEEK... WITH THE RDG AXIS SETTING UP NEAR THE UTAH/COLORADO STATE LINE. CONTINUED WARM THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH AFTERNOON TEMPS RUNNING SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL. JDC .GJT...NONE.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Heat in Maryland, July 22 to 23, 2002
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, July 22, 2002
- Lightning Strike in Florida, July 22, 2002
- Lightning Strike in South Carolina, July 22, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 22, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, July 22, 2002
- Damaging Winds in New York, July 22, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, July 22, 2002
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strikes in North Carolina, July 22, 2002
- Flash Flood in Colorado, July 22, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, July 22, 2002
- Lightning Strike in Missouri, July 22, 2002
More
Every storm in Colorado in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5311493.