1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 9, 1:15 PM MST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 215 PM MDT THU MAY 9 2002 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: FLOW ALOFT WILL BE SLOWLY BACKING AROUND TO THE SW IN RESPONSE TO DEVELOPING UPR LOW ACROSS PAC NW. AMS INITIALLY QUITE DRY ATTM BUT WILL START TO SEE SOME INC IN MID/HI LVL MSTR TNT AND FRI FROM THE DEVELOPING STORM. LOW LVLS ARE EXTREMELY DRY SO NO PRECIP EXPECTED. STRONG SURFACE HIGH ACROSS WRN NEBRASKA WILL KEEP A RATHER STRONG SERLY LOW LVL FLOW OVER EASTERN CO. WITH THE RETURN SERLY FLOW A RETURN OF LOW LVL MSTR WILL CREEP BACK INTO NERN CO FRI AFTN/TNT. SURFACE DEWPOINTS PROGGED BACK UP INTO THE LOWER 50S OVER THE FAR NERN CORNER BY FRI EVENING. NICE THETA-E RIDGE DEVELOPING OVER CO/KS BORDER WITH PROGGED CAPES BETWEEN 1500-2000J/KG. THE PROBLEM WILL BE THE STRONG CAP AT 700MB IN PLACE FOR MUCH OF THE DAY. FCST SOUNDINGS DO NOT COMPLETELY BREAK THE CAP BUT WITH UPR JET AND WEAK UPWARD FORCING NOSING INTO THE REGION IT MAY BE ENUF FOR STORMS TO DEVELOP. WELL STILL HOLD ONTO TO THE ISOLD POPS FOR MUCH OF THE PLAINS. DENVER CYCLONE ALSO EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WITH DECENT S-SE FLOW...AND MAY ALSO ACT TO FOCUS CONVECTION LATER FRI AFTN. MTNS MAY ALSO SEEM SOME ISOLATED HIGH BASED CONVECTION AS LOW LVLS WILL REMAIN DRY. FOR SATURDAY...A TRICKY FCST DAY AS MODELS ARE QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT WITH THE LOW LVL FEATURES. MESOETA BRINGS A SURGE DOWN LATE FRI NIGHT/SAT MORNING...WHICH IS WAY AHEAD OF THE FROPA TIMING FROM LAST NIGHTS RUNS OF SAT NITE. MESO-ETA GOOPS UP THE LOW LVLS WITH QUITE A BIT OF MSTR UP TO AROUND 750MB AND MUCH COOLER TEMPS SAT AM. AVN BRINGS THE FRONT DOWN SAT AFTN. WITH CONVECTION EXPECTED ACROSS NE/WY...THE MESOETA SOULTION MAY NOT BE TOO FAR OFF. TEMPS WILL BE TRICKY DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF STRATUS WHICH DEVELOPS. WILL TREND TEMPS DOWN FROM PREV FCST. THE UPPER TROF IS STILL EXPECTED TO WEAKEN AND COME ACROSS CO DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY. UPSLOPE FLOW UP TO AROUND 700MB AND WEAK DYNAMICS WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR THE CHANCE OF SHOWERS CONTINUING. LONGER RANGE MODELS SHOWING RIDGE BUILDING IN ON MON/TUE WITH DRY CONDITIONS EXPECTED WITH A WARMING TREND. THE RIDGE FLATTENS SOMEWHAT WITH A RETURN TO SW DRY FLOW WED/THU. WILL KEEP THESE LONGER RANGE DAYS DRY AS WELL. ENTREKIN .DEN...NONE.
COZ030>051-092000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1045 AM MDT THU MAY 9 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...A DRY AND STABLE ATMOSPHERE UNDER A WEAK UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE WILL HINDER THE FORMATION OF CLOUDS AND THUS ANY CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION THROUGH TONIGHT. EXCEPT FOR SOME GUSTY SOUTHEAST WINDS ON THE PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS OVERNIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS...SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. THEREFORE SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT. OUTLOOK FOR FRIDAY...CALLS FOR BREEZY AND WARM CONDITIONS WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LATE IN THE DAY...MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND ALONG THE WYOMING BORDER. OTHER THAN THE CHANCE FOR GUSTY OUTFLOW WINDS AND LIGHTNING WITH LATE DAY STORMS... SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. BAKER
The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:01 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A small land spout was spotted near Fort Collins. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Colorado, 2002Warnings 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: 5297822.