Hail in Colorado, September 29, 2002

Name: Hail in Colorado, September 29, 2002
Start: 2002-09-29T15:30
End: 2002-09-29T15:40
Location: Colorado

September 29, 2002 · NWS GJT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 29, 2:53 PM MST, 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 29, 2:53 PM MST, 37 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
353 PM MDT SUN SEP 29 2002

STRONG TROUGH OVER SE NV/NW AZ BEGINNING TO LIFT NE INTO SWRN
UTAH. PLENTY OF DIVERGANCE ALOFT/PVA/UVV AHEAD OF IT OVER
CENTRAL UTAH. MINOR SHORTWAVE AND JET SPEED MAX SPAWNING TSTMS
OVER XTRM ERN UT AND NW CO. LONG-LIVED CELLS APPEAR TO BE JUST
BELOW SEVERE STORM STRENGTH. MOIST SOUNDING COULD HELP PRODUCE WET
MICROBURST TYPE WINDS...BUT BASES AND TOPS ARE LOW SO MAY NOT BE
ENOUGH VERTICAL FALL TO ALLOW SEVERE WIND GUSTS TO DVLP. TWO STRONG
CELLS THAT HAVE DEVELOPED DID SHOW BOWING ECHO CHARACTERISTICS...BUT
VILS HAVE REMAINED LOW. FREEZING LEVEL FROM 12Z SOUNDING JUST ABOVE
10,000 FT...AT LEAST SMALL HAIL EXPECTED ESPECIALLY OVER HIGHER
TERRAIN.

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD CLEAR CWA THIS EVENING TO NORTHEAST WITH
STABILIZATION TO FOLLOW.  MODELS SHOW THIS FRONT BECOMING STATIONARY
WITH INCREASING MOISTURE CONVERGENCE THROUGH THE FIRST PART OF THIS
WEEK. FRONT WILL INITIALLY STALL NORTHWEST OF OUR FORECAST AREA
TUESDAY...THEN SLOWLY SLIDE SOUTHEAST WED. CJC

EXTENDED...(THU-SUN) MODELS STILL SHOW PRETTY GOOD CONSISTENCY WITH
OVERALL PATTERN OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC WITH A
LONG WAVE TROUGH OVER WRN/CNTRL UNITED STATES. EMBEDDED WAVES WILL
PRODUCE AREAS OF PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR TO A
LITTLE BELOW NORMAL. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL
BE NEAR THE 4 CORNERS THURSDAY MORNING AND THEN MOVE EASTWARD DURING
THE DAY. THIS SHOULD BRING FAIRLY WIDESPREAD PCPN TO MOST OF THE CWA
INCLUDING THE NORTH...WHERE THE FLOW BECOMES UPSLOPE NORTHWESTERLY
BY AFTERNOON. FRIDAY WE WILL BE BETWEEN STORMS AS THE NEXT SYSTEM
DROPS INTO THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND THE FLOW BACKS TO THE SOUTHWEST.
THE UPPER LOW DRIFTS EASTWARD INTO THE AREA SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS.

.GJT...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 29, 12:01 PM MST, 3 hours 29 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION, CO
101 PM MDT SUN SEP 29 2002

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1115 AM    1 N FRUITA                CO   .75 INCH HAIL
09/29/02   MESA                           REPORTED BY
                                          NWS EMPLOYEE

DJN

The radar

The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 12 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Mesa

When: September 29, 3:30 PM MST to 3:40 PM MST
Where: Mesa County, Palisade
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.100, -108.350

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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: 5320939.