Flash Flood in Colorado, July 23, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Colorado, July 23, 2002
Start: 2002-07-23T22:30
End: 2002-07-23T23:45
Location: Colorado

July 23, 2002 · NWS GJT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Flash floods deposited up to two feet of mud and rocks across County Road 250 along the east side of the Animas Valley.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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.

Flash floods deposited up to two feet of mud and rocks across County Road 250 along the east side of the Animas Valley.

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 23, 12:42 PM MST, 9 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 12:42 PM MST, 9 hours 48 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
142 PM MDT TUE JUL 23 2002

PW DECREASED OVERNIGHT...MAINLY FROM THE MID AND UPPER LEVELS...WITH
SFC DEW PTS REMAINING HIGH...IN THE LOWER 50S SOUTH OF GJT AND CNY
AND THE MID 40S TO THE NORTH. A SHORTWAVE TROF IS SKIMMING THROUGH
DAGGETT COUNTY UT AND WILL CONTINUE PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH
THE EARLY EVENING. NO ORGANIZED DYNAMICS ELSEWHERE IN THE CWA TO
PULL THE CONVECTION OFF THE MOUNTAINS...WITH BEST CONCENTRATION
CLOSE TO THE EASTERN CWA BORDER/CONT DVD.

HIGH CONTINUES OVER CO WED WITH MOST OF THE ACTIVITY SEEMING TO BE
FORCES SOUTH AND WEST...ALONG WITH LESS MOISTURE...SO WED SHOULD SEE
LESS ACTIVITY. ON THURS THE AVN WANTS TO BRING A TROF THRU THE RIDGE
AND INTO THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE AREA. SINCE THE MODELS SHOWS THIS
FEATURE IN OTHER FIELDS BESIDES VORTICITY IT DOESNT LOOK LIKE
CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK...THOUGH IT STILL APPEARS TOO STRONG. WILL KEEP
THE UPTURN IN POPS IN CURRENT ZONES.  CJC

...EXTENDED (FRI-TUES)
WEAK TROF MOVES INTO GREAT BASIN REGION WITH FLAT RIDGE OVER CWA.
WITH RESIDUAL SOUTHERLY FLOW OF MOISTURE HAVE KEPT CHANCE POPS OVER
MTNS WITH SLIGHT CHANCE OVER LOWER ELEVATIONS ON FRIDAY. AS TROF
MOVES EAST OF AREA ON MONDAY PATTERN SHIFTS TO MORE WESTERLY
WITH JET NORTH OF CWA. MODELS STILL DEPICTING SOME SOUTHERLY MOIST
FLOW SO HAVE KEEP SLIGHT CHANCE POPS ACROSS MTNS AND SOUTH THROUGH
THE EXTENDED. TEMPS LOOK GOOD. MPM

.GJT...NONE.

The radar

The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 200 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:30 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, La Plata

When: July 23, 10:30 PM MST to 11:45 PM MST
Where: La Plata County, 6 mi N of Durango
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.287, -107.843 (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: 5311487.