Wildfire, San Miguel
- When
- June 21, 3:00 PM MST to June 30, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- San Miguel County, 15 mi WSW of Telluride
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 38.004, -108.406 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in Colorado, June 21 to 30, 2002
Lightning ignited a fire on the forested east slope of Lone Cone Mountain. The fire was named the West Beaver Fire and continued through the end of the month.
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.
Lightning ignited a fire on the forested east slope of Lone Cone Mountain. The fire was named the West Beaver Fire and continued through the end of the month. See the July 2002 Storm Data publication for a continuation of this wildfire report.
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 Jun 21, 1:00 PM MST, 2 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 1:00 PM MST, 2 hours before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
200 PM MDT FRI JUN 21 2002
NEGATIVE TILT TROUGH STILL ON TRACK FOR MOVING ACROSS CWA TONIGHT
AND EARLY SATURDAY. SOUTHWEST COLORADO WITH IMPROVED DP AND A
FEW BOUNDRIES FROM TSRA LAST EVENING SHOULD SUPPORT SCATTERED
ACTIVITY IN THE SAN JUANS WITH ETA GUIDANCE SHOWING SOME WETTING
RAINS TONIGHT. DYNAMICS WILL SUPPORT AT LEAST ISOLATED ACTIVITY
ELSEWHERE...EXCEPT THE LOW VALLEYS.
FIRE CONCERNS WITH STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS AND DRY THUNDERSTORMS. EVEN
WETTING STORMS WILL PRODUCE GUSTY ERRATIC WINDS IN THEIR VICINITY.
THE BETTER DP IN THE SOUTH WILL BE SHORT LIVED BUT SHOULD AID IN
REDUCING FIRE BEHAVIOR TO MORE ACCEPTABLE LEVELS AT LEAST ONE
MORE NIGHT.
IMPROVEMENT SATURDAY FROM THE SOUTHWEST AS TROUGH MOVES NORTHEAST
THROUGH WYOMING. TRANSITION BACK TO MORE WESTERLY FLOW AND RETURN TO
HOT AND DRY BY SUNDAY. 21/DJC
EXTENDED...(MON-FRI): BUILDING WESTERN RIDGE AND WARM TEMPERATURES
LOOK TO BE THE RULE THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. A WEAK WAVE LOOKS TO
ROTATE THROUGH THE RIDGE AROUND MID WEEK. THIS MAY PRODUCE A FEW
THUNDERSTORMS NORTH, BUT MOISTURE WILL BE LIMITED AND HIGH-BASED.
NO NEED FOR CHANGES TO CURRENT PACKAGE...TYPICAL WARM, DRY JUNE
PATTERN.
.GJT...RED FLAG WARNING UTAH FIRE ZONES 445 THRU 449 AND COLORADO
ZONES 201...203...205. FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR COLORADO ZONE
207 FOR TONIGHT.The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Illinois, June 21 to 25, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, June 21 to 22, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Utah, June 21, 2002
- Flash Flood in Nevada, June 21, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, June 21, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Flood in Minnesota, June 21 to 22, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Michigan, June 21, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Utah, June 21, 2002
- Tornadoes in Iowa, June 21, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Wyoming, June 21, 2002
- Hail and Lightning Strike in Minnesota, June 21, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Wisconsin, June 21, 2002
More
Every storm in Colorado in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, June 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: 5304214.