Strong gradient winds sustained at about 35 knots were enhanced for a short while and destroyed a 90 foot by 24 foot shed constructed of 10 inch by 10 inch posts. The structure was ripped from the foundation bolts, lifted about 25 feet into the air and thrown about 80 feet into a hillside.
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 episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.
Strong gradient winds sustained at about 35 knots were enhanced for a short while and destroyed a 90 foot by 24 foot shed constructed of 10 inch by 10 inch posts. The structure was ripped from the foundation bolts, lifted about 25 feet into the air and thrown about 80 feet into a hillside. There were two eyewitnesses to the event.
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 May 21, 1:34 PM MST, 3 hours 26 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
234 PM MDT TUE MAY 21 2002
...WIND ADVISORY AND FIRE WEATHER WATCH CONTINUE THIS EVENING FOR THE
ENTIRE FORECAST AREA...
WIDESPREAD ADVISORY LEVEL WINDS HAVE MATERIALIZED ACROSS A MAJORITY
OF THE FORECAST AREA BEGINNING EARLY THIS MORNING. A WIND GUST TO 88
MPH WAS RECORDED ABOVE 9000 FEET...WHILE MOST OF THE CWFA HAS SEEN
GUSTS IN THE 45 TO 65 MPH RANGE. WRAPPED UP LOW OVER SLC WILL
CONTINUE TO BRING STRONG WINDS TO THE AREA DURING THE REMAINDER OF
THE AFTERNOON AND POSSIBLY INTO THE EARLY EVENING. SOUTHERN ZONES
LESS WELL REPRESENTED IN TERMS OF STRONG WIND SO FAR...HOWEVER WITH
100KT JET OVERHEAD AND WEAK VORT MOVING ACROSS LATE THIS AFTERNOON...
HESITATE TO BRING THE ADVISORY DOWN. STRONG 7H FLOW TO CONTINUE
THROUGH 06Z ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES WHERE SURFACE GRADIENT
STRONGEST. APPEARS TO BE A GOOD CHANCE THAT STRONG WINDS WILL
CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING ACROSS THE NORTH. NOT ENTIRELY CONVINCED...
SO WILL LET EVENING SHIFT TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT IT. THEREFORE...WILL
LET ADVISORY CONTINUE THROUGH 600 PM...WITH POSSIBLE EXTENSION FOR
THE NORTH AND POSSIBLY SOME OTHER AREAS.
FRIDAY-TUESDAY:
A SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES
LATE THU/EARLY FRI. THIS DISTURBANCE WILL MAINLY EFFECT THE
NORTHERN PORTION OF THE AREA RESULTING A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS THU AND FRI AFTERNOONS. THIS WEAK TROUGH IS
FOLLOWED BY A LOW AMPLITUDE RIDGE FOR THE WEEKEND BRINGING WARMER
AND DRIER CONDITIONS. WEAK EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES WILL PASS MON AND
TUE IN THE SOUTHWEST FLOW. WHILE ANY ONE OF THESE COULD BRING A
SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS TO THE AREA...WILL KEEP THE FORECAST DRY FOR
NOW. TIMING OF SUCH AN ISOLATED EVENT IS NOT POSSIBLE.
.GJT...WIND ADVISORY CONTINUES EARLY THIS EVENING FOR ALL WESTERN
COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH ZONES.
...RED FLAG WARNING CONTINUES THIS EVENING FOR ALL OF WESTERN
COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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: 5300008.