Colorado, 2002

Funnel Cloud in Colorado, July 28, 2002

July 28, 2002 · NWS GJT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 funnel cloud, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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 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 28, 1:07 PM MST, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 28, 1:07 PM MST, 3 hours 23 minutes before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
207 PM MDT SUN JUL 28 2002

ATMOSPHERE UNDERGOING DRAMATIC DRYING TREND THIS AFTERNOON...AND
EXPECT SUBSIDENCE INVERSION TO DEVELOP AROUND 550MB FURTHER
LIMITING CONVECTION THIS EVENING. AS A RESULT EXPECT MOSTLY CLEAR
SKIES TONIGHT WITH COOL TEMPS AS A RESULT OF LOWERING DWPTS.
RECORD LOW TEMP TONIGHT AT GJT 57 AND WE SHOULD BE VERY CLOSE TO THAT
VALUE. HIGH PRESSURE BEGINS TO REBUILD OVER THE REGION MONDAY...
CENTERED NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS. FLOW ALOFT WILL BE MOSTLY WEST TO
NORTHWEST AND NOT FAVOR A RETURN OF MONSOON MSTR UNTIL LATE
WEDNESDAY. LAPSE RATES A LITTLE STEEPER MONDAY SO WILL PROBABLY SEE
SOME CU DEVELOP OVR THE MTNS DURING THE AFTERNOON...OTHERWISE MOSTLY
SUNNY. AS SURFACE TEMPS WARM TO NEAR TRIPLE DIGITS TUESDAY AND
WEDNESDAY AND MOISTURE SLOWLY INCREASES EXPECT MORE DEVELOPED CLOUD
FIELDS. AT THIS TIME IT SEEMS PRUDENT TO INTRODUCE ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS TO THE SAN JUANS BY LATE WEDNESDAY.  MC

(THU-SUN)...UPPER RIDGE AXIS SLIDES EAST THE LATE IN THE WEEK AS PAC
SHORTWAVE PUSHES INTO THE NORTHERN GREAT BASIN SAT...BRUSHING THE
FORECAST AREA SAT NIGHT AS IT IS ABSORBED IN THE FLOW. WIDELY
SCT AFTN/EVE THUNDERSTORMS ON THU OVER THE MTNS...WITH INCREASE IN
MOISTURE IN SWLY FLOW AHEAD AND WITH THIS SHORTWAVE INCREASING
THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR FRI/SAT. TEMPS PROBABLY A FEW DEGREES
COOLER BASED ON A BIT MORE CLOUDS. AVN SHOWING ELONGATED E-W UPPER
HIGH DOMINATING THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE COUNTRY BY SUN...WITH HIGH
CENTER FORMING IN THE VICINITY OF THE 4-CORNERS AREA BY MONDAY.  WILL
KEEP MENTION OF DIURNAL T-STORMS IN FOR SUNDAY.  JAD

.GJT...NONE.

The radar

The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, Montrose

When
July 28, 4:30 PM MST
Where
Montrose County, 7 mi NNW of Paradox
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
38.402, -108.269 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Funnel Cloud
A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

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

The same day elsewhere

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: 5311494.