Flood in Colorado, September 13, 2002

Name: Flood in Colorado, September 13, 2002
Start: 2002-09-13T14:30
End: 2002-09-13T17:30
Location: Colorado

September 13, 2002 · NWS BOU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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 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 Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 13, 1:35 PM MST, 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 13, 1:35 PM MST, 55 minutes before

NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
235 PM MDT FRI SEP 13 2002

SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: UPPER LEVEL CIRCULATION IS NOW LIFTING ACRS
XTRM NERN CO WITH TROF AXIS PASSING ACRS DEN AREA NOW WITH A BAND OF
TSTMS.  THERE IS WRAP-AROUND MSTR THAT HAS MOVED BACK INTO THE NRN
MTNS FM WY BUT WITH PTL PROFILER SHOWING INCRSG NWLY FLOW VCNTY OF
700 MB AND ALSO SEEING WDSPRD NWLY WINDS AT SFC STATIONS IN
WY...THIS STRONG SINKING SIGNAL EAST OF THE DIVIDE SHD MAKE IT HARD
FOR ANY ADDITIONAL STORMS TO HOLD TOGETHER AS THEY TRY TO MOVE OFF
THE FTHLS.  FARTHER EAST ACTIVITY WILL STILL OCCUR THIS EVNG AND BE
STRONGER.  CRNT FCST LUKS TO HAVE A GUD HANDLE ON THIS EVNGS WX.
THEN WE SETTLE INTO A NELY LOW LVL FLOW LATER TNGT AND THERE IS THE
POSSIBILITY THIS CUD RESULT IN SOME AREAS OF FOG ARND TWDS
DAYBREAK...THO COUNTERING THIS IS SFC FLOW OUT OF THE NNE ON THE
PLAINS CUD BE 10 KTS OR MORE.  SO WILL GO WITH CLEARING AND NO FOG
OVNGT.  FOR SAT THE LOW LVL UPSLOPE IS IN PLACE BUT MID LVLS WILL BE
WARMING WITH UPR LVL RIDGE BUILDING EAST SO AT BEST SOME CU CUD DVLP
BUT SEEMS UNLIKLY ANY WUD LEAD TO RAIN...EVEN IN THE MTNS...SO SUNNY
AND DELIGHTFUL DAY AS IN CRNT FCST LUKS GUD.  GETTING A LITTLE
WARMER ON SUN WITH RETURN SLY FLOW ON THE PLAINS AND MAYBE A DEN
CYCLONE BUT TOO DRY FOR ANYTHING.

LONG TERM DISCUSSION: CLOSED UPR LVL LOW WELL OFF THE WEST COAST
OPENS UP AND MOVES INTO NRN CA BY SUN AFTN AND THEN ROTATES ACRS CO
LATE MON/MON NGT.  ENUF MSTR TO PUT ISOLD TSTMS FOR MTNS LATER MON
WHL ON PLAINS CUD GET SOME DWNSLOPE FLOW WITH TMPS WELL INTO THE 80S
AND MAYBE A 90 OR TWO ARND (STILL 5 DAYS SHY OF THE RECORD).  THEN
THE PATTERN BECOMES MORE ZONAL THRU THE WEEK THO THERE ARE
DIFFERENCES IN THE ENSEMBLES AND AMONG THE VARIOUS MODELS WITH THE
EURO MODELS AND THE CANADIAN MODEL SHOWING MORE AMPLITUDE WHILE THE
MRF/AVN (GFS) IS ZONAL.  WITH THIS AMNT OF UNCERTAINTY WONT ADJUST
MUCH IN THE LONGER RANGE FCST BEYOND THE ADDITION OF THE MTN TSTMS
FOR LATER MON, WITH TUE COOLER THO THAN THE WARM AIR AHEAD OF THE
PACIFIC FRONT ON MONDAY.  SZOKE

.DEN...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 13, 10:00 AM MST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

COZ030>051-132000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1100 AM MDT FRI SEP 13 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: AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE WAS
PUSHING INTO NORTHWEST COLORADO LATE FRIDAY MORNING AND WILL
CONTINUE MOVING TO THE EAST THROUGHOUT THE DAY.  IT SHOULD BE
EAST OF THE OUTLOOK AREA BY SATURDAY MORNING.  THIS WEATHER SYSTEM
IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS OVER THE AREA THIS MORNING
AND WILL CONTINUE TO AID IN DEVELOPMENT OF MORE SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS AS THE DAY AND EVENING WEAR ON.

WITH THE ABUNDANT AMOUNT OF MOISTURE AVAILABLE...MANY OF THE SHOWERS
WILL AGAIN PRODUCE WETTING RAINS AND THE AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS
WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING RATHER HEAVY DOWNPOURS...PERHAPS UP TO
AN INCH IN AN HOUR OR SO.  THEREFORE THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME MINOR
FLOODING ONCE AGAIN EXISTS.  RAINS THAT FALL ON THE BURN AREAS IN
THE FOOTHILLS COULD ALSO TRIGGER MUD AND ROCK SLIDES.

THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME MARGINALLY UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON SO
SOME OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE CAPABLE
PUTTING OUT SOME HAIL.  MOST...IF NOT ALL OF THE HAIL SHOULD BE
UNDER SEVERE LIMITS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY.

OUTLOOK FOR SATURDAY...AS THE UPPER LOW PRESSURE AREA EXITS COLORADO
DRIER AND MORE STABLE AIR WILL SETTLE OVER THE AREA IN ITS WAKE.
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD BE MINIMAL TO NONE ON SATURDAY.

NOTE...BEGINNING OCTOBER 1 2002...THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO WILL BE ISSUED UNDER THE AWIPS
IDENTIFIER HWOBOU WITH A WMO HEADING OF FLUS45 KBOU.  AT THAT TIME
THE OUTLOOK WILL ALSO BE EXTENDED TO DISCUSS EXPECTED HAZARDOUS
WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS.
ET

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Denver

When: September 13, 2:30 PM MST to 5:30 PM MST
Where: Denver County, Denver
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.762, -104.876 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Friday the 13th proved to be bad luck for motorists beneath the Logan Street overpass when rising water inundated their vehicles. Some were rescued, others simply waited atop their vehicles until the water safely receded. The highway had to be closed in both directions for about 3 hours. The deluge also flooded several businesses along Broadway. The incident was the result of brief heavy rainfall coupled with poor drainage, partially attributed to the ongoing T-REX highway project (a 12-ft. drainage pipe had not yet been installed beneath the underpass).

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Colorado in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, September 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: 5320873.