1 wildfire, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 20, 1:51 PM MST, 9 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 251 PM MDT MON MAY 20 2002 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: CURRENT RADAR INDICATING PLENTY OF WEAK CONVECTION OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS RIGHT NOW...BUT NOTHING OUT ON THE STABLE PLAINS. THE SATELLITE PICTURES SHOW THE THE STRATUS UP TO ABOUT 7500 FEET MSL INTO THE FOOTHILLS. THE PICTURES ALSO SHOW A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF THE DENVER CYCLONE CENTERED OVER SOUTHEASTERN WELD COUNTY...JUST WEST OF ROGGEN. NICE CIRCULATION THE ACARS SOUNDINGS SHOW LITTLE HOPE OF ANYTHING OUT ON THE PLAINS ANYWHERE THIS EVENING. OVERNIGHT...THE MODELS SHOW THE DECENT SOUTHEAST LOW LEVEL FLOW TO CONTINUE. HOWEVER THERE IS LESS MOISTURE INDICATED THEN LAST NIGHT. WILL KEEP THE MOST LOW CLOUDS OVER THE FAR EAST...BUT STILL SOME OVER THE WESTERN PLAINS. ON TUESDAY...THE LOW LEVEL FLOW BECOMES MORE SOUTHERLY...STRONGER...AND HAS LESS MOISTURE WITH IT. MAY SEE SOME SUN...BUT CROSS SECTIONS SHOW A STRONG CAP AT THE MID LEVELS. WILL LEAVE CURRENT POPS AS IS. LONG TERM DISCUSSION: BY TUESDAY EVENING...INCREASING SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT IS PROGGED OVER THE FORECAST AREA AS AN UPPER TROUGH/CLOSED LOW MOVES NORTHEASTWARD. THE DIV-Q GRIDS SHOW SOME WEAK UPWARD FORCING FOR THE FORECAST AREA TUESDAY OVERNIGHT INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE BEST ENERGY IS WELL TO THE NORTH. BY 03Z-06Z TUESDAY EVENING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE GETS FLUSHED OUT TO THE EAST. THE TROUGH AXIS NEVER REALLY PUSHES ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA WITH THE UPPER TROUGH FLATTENING QUITE A BIT. THE CURRENT POPS FOR TUESDAY EVENING LOOK GOOD. FOR WEDNESDAY...FAIRLY STRONG WEST-SOUTHWESTERLY JET LEVEL FLOW IS OVER THE FORECAST AREA. CONCERNING STRONG WINDS TUESDAY NIGHT/ WEDNESDAY...CROSS SECTIONS SHOW THE STABLE LAYER NEVER REALLY GETTING BELOW 600 MB. SO THERE MOUNTAIN WAVE SET UP IS UNLIKELY. THE LOW LEVEL PRESSURE AND WIND FIELDS DO SHOW A DECENT GRADIENT DEVELOPING BY 09Z WEDNESDAY AND CONTINUING THROUGH ABOUT 18Z WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. CURRENT ZONES MENTION WINDY...WHICH IS GOOD. THE UPPER FLOW STAYS FAIRLY BRISK WEDNESDAY NIGHT...THEN MORE SOUTHWESTERLY FOR THURSDAY AS ANOTHER UPPER TROUGH DEVELOPS TO OUR WEST. BY THURSDAY MORNING THE AVN CONTINUES TO SHOW A A COLDER AIRMASS AND UPSLOPE MOVING INTO THE PLAINS. THE MOISTURE INCREASES THROUGH THE DAY...WITH SOME WEAK SYNOPTIC SCALE FORCING PROGGED. MAY NEED SOME ISOLATED POPS LATE IN A FEW AREAS...HOWEVER THE BETTER CHANCE SHOULD COME DURING THE SEVENTH (MISSING) PERIOD THURSDAY NIGHT/FRIDAY MORNING. FOR TEMPERATURES...TUESDAY WILL BE THE WARMEST DAY...THEN COOLER BOTH WEDNESDAY AND AGAIN THURSDAY. IN THE EXTENDED...FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY...MODELS SHOW A WEAK UPPER TROUGH PUSHING ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA ON FRIDAY...THEN WEAK ZONAL FLOW PREVAILS THROUGH MONDAY. AGAIN...ENOUGH MOISTURE IS PROGGED AROUND TO WARRANT LIMITED POPS. RJK .DEN...NONE.
COZ030>051-202000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1120 AM MDT MON MAY 20 2002 THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES ADAMS ARAPAHOE BOULDER BROOMFIELD CLEAR CREEK DENVER DOUGLAS ELBERT GILPIN GRAND JACKSON JEFFERSON LARIMER LINCOLN LOGAN MORGAN PARK PHILLIPS SEDGWICK SUMMIT WASHINGTON WELD SYNOPSIS: COOL AND MOIST AIR REMAINS ON THE PLAINS TODAY. SKIES WILL CLEAR SOMEWHAT DURING THE AFTERNOON...BUT CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN TOO STABLE FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY. OUTLOOK FOR TUESDAY: SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS ALOFT WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE STATE...CAUSING GUSTY CONDITIONS TO THE MOUNTAINS AND LESS CLOUDS ON THE NORTHEAST PLAINS. A FEW AFTERNOON AND EVENING STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN AND NEAR THE MOUNTAINS. DANKERS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning sparked a wildfire near Deckers. Extremely dry conditions and very strong winds the following day allowed the fire to consume 3,860 acres before it could be contained. Thirteen structures were destroyed, including 4 homes.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, May 2002
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: 5297818.