The flash flood brought large volumes of mud, trees, and boulders across county roads and deposited the debris on a number of private properties. Several vehicles were carried a short distance in the flow.
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.
The flash flood brought large volumes of mud, trees, and boulders across county roads and deposited the debris on a number of private properties. Several vehicles were carried a short distance in the flow. One man suffered a heart attack and minor injuries when the vehicle he was driving was washed off the road and into a tree.
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 7, 3:25 PM MST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
425 PM MDT SAT SEP 7 2002
GOOD JET SUPPORT...PLENTIFUL MOISTURE AND ENOUGH SUN HAVE HELPED
PRODUCE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...SOME SEVERE OVER SE UTAH THIS
AFTERNOON. THESE STORMS WILL CONTINUE MOVING NE AND INTO EXTREME
WESTERN COLORADO...SOUTH OF I-70...EARLY THIS EVENING.
NEXT TWO DAYS WILL SEE CONTINUED MOIST ENVIRONMENT WITH PERSISTENT
CLOUDY CONDITIONS AND HIGH CHC OF RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS. CJC
EXTENDED (WED-SAT)...PACIFIC TROUGH LIFTS ACROSS CWFA WEDNESDAY
AND THURSDAY WITH A CONTINUED THREAT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.
AVAILABLE MOISTURE SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT...AS MED RANGE MODELS
INDICATE LITTLE TO MOVE DEEP SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE AWAY FROM AREA.
BY FRIDAY...DRIER WESTERLIES DEVELOP AND MOISTURE SHIFTS EAST WITH
TROUGH. WILL LEAVE MENTION OF SLIGHT CHANCE TSTMS OVER MOUNTAINS
WITH RESIDUAL MOISTURE EFFECTS...AND WILL INTRODUCE DRY FORECAST
FOR SATURDAY AS LATEST MRF RUN SHOWS BUILDING UPPER HIGH OVER WEST
COAST (NOTE...LAST 2 MRF MODEL RUNS ARE INCONSISTENT). TEMPERATURES
WILL REBOUND LATE IN PERIOD AS DRIER WEATHER RETURNS. DJN.83
.GJT...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 9 PM MDT FOR SOUTHEAST UTAH
AND SOUTHWEST COLORADO.COZ006-017-019>021-UTZ022-025-027>029-080300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 715 PM MDT SAT SEP 7 2002 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CANCELED FOR EXTREME EASTERN UTAH... ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CONTINUES UNTIL 9:00 PM MDT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST COLORADO... THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THAT MOVED THROUGH SOUTHEAST UTAH HAVE MOVED INTO WESTERN COLORADO. IN EASTERN UTAH...GRAND AND SAN JUAN COUNTIES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE WATCH AREA. IN SOUTHWEST COLORADO...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CONTINUES UNTIL 9:00 PM MDT...FOR WESTERN MESA...MONTROSE...DOLORES... SAN MIGUEL...AND MONTEZUMA COUNTIES. CUOCO
The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 200 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:28 UTC.
1 flash flood. 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, September 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: 5320306.