Name: Flash Flood in Colorado, October 1, 2002
Start: 2002-10-01T15:30
End: 2002-10-01T16:30
Location: Colorado

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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.

Heavy rainfall on the Missionary Ridge burned area caused a flash flood across County Road 250 at Stevens Creek. Debris and mud 18 inches deep were deposited on the road and resulted in a temporary road closure.

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 Oct 1, 2:40 PM MST, 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 1, 2:40 PM MST, 50 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
340 PM MDT TUE OCT 1 2002

LOW OVER WESTERN GREAT BASIN BEHAVING JUST ABOUT AS EXPECTED. IT
SHOULD CONTINUE TO DIG AND STRENGTHEN TO SSE TONIGHT AND BEGIN TO
TURN NE WED AND WED NGT. CURRENTLY NOSE OF JET MOVING INTO SRN CO
FROM NMEX WITH UPLIFT IN LEFT-FRONT QUAD HELPING TO GENERATE
CONVECTION OVER SAN JUANS AND SE UT. THIS WILL CONTINUE THIS EVENING
AND SPREAD NORTH OVER CO OVERNIGHT.

LOW SHOULD MOVE BODILY OVER THE AREA WED AFTN AND WED NGT SO HAVE
GONE WITH SIGNIFICANT POP ACROSS THE CWA...WITH SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY
LATE WED NGT IN THE MTNS. SNOW LEVEL SHOULD LOWER TO 7000 FEET AT
LEAST BY EARLY THUR MORNING. TROF SHOULD CLEAR TO EAST THURS NGT
WITH NW FLOW AND SECONDARY TROUGH MOVING IN FRI AND FRI NGT. CLDS
AND PCPN SHOULD SHOULD FOCUS OVER THE NORTH FRI NGT WITH ANOTHER
GOOD TROUGH COMING INTO THE AREA SAT...IF THE NEW AVN IS TO BE
BELIEVED.   CJC

EXTENDED (SAT-TUE)...THE CWFA LOOKS TO BE UNDER A LARGE BROAD TROF
THROUGH MOST OF THE WEEKEND, FOLLOWED BY TROF PASSAGE ON SUNDAY.
THE EXTENDED MODELS ARE MOSTLY IN AGREEMENT...JUST A LITTLE
DIFFERENT ON TIMING. THE UKMET IS INITIALLY PLACES A CLOSED 500 MB
TROF OVER SRN CA BY SUN OOZ. THE MRF COMES ON BOARD WITH A SIMILAR
SOLUTION BY MON 00Z, WHILE THE EC KEEPS THE BASE OF THE TROF AS AN
OPEN WAVE. ALL MODELS, EXCEPT THE AVN, RESORTS BACK TO AN OPEN WAVE
BEFORE MOVING OVER ERN UT/WRN CO. THE AVN IS THE MOST AGGRESSIVE BY
FAR WITH A DEEP CLOSED LOW MOVING OVER WRN CO BY SUN 12Z.

UPPER LEVEL (500 MB) TEMPERATURES COMING INTO THE REGION WITH THE
TROF AXIS WILL BE QUITE COLD...RANGING FROM -16C IN THE SOUTH TO
-26C IN THE FAR NORTH. SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL INITIALLY RESULT IN A
DEEP MOISTURE FIELD. DECREASING TEMPS ALOFT WILL ALLOW FOR
STEEPENING LAPSE RATES UNTIL THE FLOW BECOMES MORE NORTHWEST EARLY
ON SUNDAY. WITH THE MODEL STRENGTH UNCERTAINTY...WILL KEEP SUNDAY A
LITTLE UNSETTLED. CLEARING BY THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK WEEK WITH A
FRESH INFUSION OF COLD AIR.  BA

.GJT...NONE.

The radar

The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 200 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, La Plata

When: October 1, 3:30 PM MST to 4:30 PM MST
Where: La Plata County, 8 mi N of Durango
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.287, -107.843 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Colorado in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, October 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: 5319212.