Strong gradient winds gusting in excess of 80 knots snapped off several large ponderosa pine trees and blew them onto US Highway 550 just south of Ouray. The highway was blocked until the trees could be removed.
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 gusting in excess of 80 knots snapped off several large ponderosa pine trees and blew them onto US Highway 550 just south of Ouray. The highway was blocked until the trees could be removed. The strong winds also blew rocks off the cliffs above the highway and onto the highway.
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, 1:24 AM MST, 7 hours 54 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
224 AM MDT TUE MAY 21 2002
...WINDY ADVISORY AND FIRE WEATHER WATCH CONTINUE TODAY FOR ENTIRE
FORECAST AREA...
STRONG LOW CONTINUES TO PRESS EAST OVER THE GREAT BASIN. MODELS
APPEAR TO BE HANDLING ITS MAJOR FEATURES WELL. BEST MOISTURE AND
HIGHEST CHANCE OF MEASURABLE PCPN APPEAR TO THE ROTATING NE NO TRACK
CLIP NERN UT AND NWRN CO THIS AFTERNOON. PROGGED MOISTURE AND
RECORDED PCPN OVER NV NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE...SO SOME TSTMS
LATER THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON OVER NRN THIRD OF CWA SHOULD
BE DRY...THUS AN INCREASED THREAT OF MORE WILDFIRE STARTS. LESS
MOISTURE OVER SOUTHERN 2/3RDS OF CWA SHOULD RESULT IN ONLY ISOLD
TSTMS BY MOST WILL BE DRY...THUS COMPLICATING AN ALREADY CRITICAL
FIRE WEATHER SITUATION.
WIND ADVY CRITERIA WIND SPEEDS A CERTAINTY TODAY...STARTING BEFORE
NOON. JET MAXIMA ON BACK EDGE OF JET STREAK VISIBLE OVER SW AZ TO
PASS OVER 4 CORNERS BETWEEN 16-18Z. MOST OF CWA SHOULD BE UNDER
DOWNWARD FORCING QUAD OF THIS JET MAXIMA WHICH SHOULD ENSURE WINDS
PICKING UP A KNOTCH OVER MONDAY. APPEARS STRONGEST WIND BAND WILL
SLIDE OVER WRN CO BY LATE MORNING. AFTER ABOUT 21Z TIME-HTS AND FCST
SOUNDINGS SHOW WINDS SHIFTING TO MORE WESTERLY DIRECTION AND SPEEDS
RELAXING A BIT.
CLOSED 500 MB LOW MOVES TO HI PLAIN TUE NGT AND WED...WITH
UNSETTLED WNW FLOW AND WRAP-AROUND MOISTURE OVER NW CO/NE UT.
ANOTHER SHORTWAVE TROF MOVE OVER THE NRN HALF OF THE AREA FRI...
FOLLOWED BY DRY RIDGING SAT. A WARMING TREND AND INCREASING SW FLOW
SUN AND MON AS NEXT PACIFIC LOW APPROACHES. CUOCO
WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH EMERGENCY MANAGERS SHOULD MAINTAIN
A HIGH LEVEL OF WEATHER AWARENESS TODAY AND THIS EVENING AS VERY
WINDY AND DRY CONDITIONS WILL CAUSE WILDFIRES TO GROW RAPIDLY.
ISOLATED DRY THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO CAUSE NEW WILDFIRE STARTS.
.GJT...WIND ADVISORY CONTINUES TODAY FOR ALL WESTERN COLORADO AND
EASTERN UTAH ZONES.
...FIRE WEATHER WATCH CONTINUES TODAY 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: 5300012.