Dust Devil, La Plata
- When
- July 5, 1:30 PM MST to 1:35 PM MST
- Where
- La Plata County, 19 mi ESE of Durango
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 37.287, -107.843 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Dust Devil in Colorado, July 5, 2002
A well defined dust devil with a large vertical extent was photographed as it traveled along a recently burned mountain ridge. The dust devil was quite visible due to the extensive amount of ash which it picked up from the burned forest.
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.
A well defined dust devil with a large vertical extent was photographed as it traveled along a recently burned mountain ridge. The dust devil was quite visible due to the extensive amount of ash which it picked up from the burned forest. This was the second time in two days that a well defined dust devil was observed in the same general location.
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 5, 1:47 AM MST, 11 hours 43 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 5, 1:47 AM MST, 11 hours 43 minutes before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 247 AM MDT FRI JUL 5 2002 PATTERN SLOWLY SHIFTING TO DRIER SW FLOW ALOFT AS OLD LOW OVER NM CONTINUES TO SLIDE EAST OVER NEXT 48 HOURS. MAIN MONSOONAL MOISTURE PLUME RUNS FROM BIG BEND AREAS THROUGH E-CNTRL CO THEN NORTH THRU HIGH PLAINS...WITH SOME MOISTURE WRAPPING AROUND NM LOW EXTENDING OVER WRN CO AND ERN UT. DEFORMATION ZONES FORMING OVER CO/UT BORDER AREA. MAIN PCPN AREA TO CONTINUE MOVING EAST AND SHOULE BE CONCENTRATED OVER SW AND CNTRL CO MTNS TDA AS SHOWN IN MAINLINE MODELS 00Z RUNS. CLOUD SHIELD THAT HELD BACK HEATING THU WILL CONTINUE THINNING SO NWRN HALF OF CWA SHOULD BE A FEW DEGREE WARMER TDA...WITH LITTLE TEMP CHG OVER SERN HALF OF CWA. 00Z GJT SOUNDING STILL RATHER MOIST SO SHOULD SEE DIURNAL CONVECTION THIS AFTN/EVE SIMMILAR TO THU WITH ISOLD TO NW OF GJT...SCT TO SE OF GJT OVER MTNS...ISOLD OVER VLYS. MOST STORMS SHOULD BE WET. CJC EXTENDED (MON-THU)...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS INDICATE THAT HIGH PRESSURE WILL RE-ESTABLISH ITSELF OVER THE FOUR CORNERS AREA THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. THE ASSOCIATED THERMAL RIDGE IS FORECAST TO BE OVER UTAH...SO THIS WILL KEEP THE HEAT GOING OVER OF THE CWA (ESPECIALLY WEST). SURFACE DEWPOINTS WILL REMAIN MOSTLY IN THE 40S...BUT THERE WILL BE LITTLE UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE. A FEW UPPER WAVES LOOK TO MOVE THROUGH THE RIDGE, BUT WITH A LACK OF OTHER DYNAMICS ANY CONVECTION WILL BE SPOTTY...AND MOSTLY CONFINED TO THE HIGHER TERRAIN. WILL JUST BROADBRUSH THE EXTENDED AS EACH DAY APPEARS THAT IT WILL BE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS THE ONE BEFORE. BA .GJT...NONE.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 dust devil. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Dust Devil
- A small rotating column of dust from surface heating that caused damage or injury.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Lightning Strike in Florida, July 5, 2002
- Flash Flooding in Texas, July 5, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Louisiana, July 5, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Virginia, July 5, 2002
- Wildfire in New York, July 5 to 7, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in North Carolina, July 5, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in New Mexico, July 5, 2002
- Flash Flooding in Texas, July 5, 2002
- Waterspouts in Gulf of Mexico, July 5, 2002
- Flash Flooding in Texas, July 5, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, July 5, 2002
- Flash Flooding in Colorado, July 5, 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: 5324143.