Wildfire, Grand
- When
- June 20, 3:00 PM MST to June 30, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Grand County, 12 mi NW of Thompson
- Reported by
- GOVT OFFICIAL
- Coordinates
- 38.982, -109.570 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in Utah, June 20 to 30, 2002
Lightning ignited a wildfire in a remote area on the Tavaputs Plateau. The fire continued beyond the end of the month.
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
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.
Lightning ignited a wildfire in a remote area on the Tavaputs Plateau. The fire continued beyond the end of the month. This wildfire was named the Rattle Fire, and was later group named with other wildfires to be known as the Rattle Complex. See the July 2002 Storm Data publication for a continuation of the Rattle Fire report.
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 Jun 20, 1:00 PM MST, 2 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 1:00 PM MST, 2 hours before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
200 PM MDT THU JUN 20 2002
TROUGH AXIS MOVING NORTHEAST ACROSS GREAT BASIN SATURDAY. SOME MODEL
DIFFERENCES IN SHORT RANGE PERIOD WITH AVN DEEPER THAN ETA. WILL
BLEND NCEP PREFERENCE FOR THE AVN WITH CURRENT FORECAST PACKAGE. EVEN
WITH STRONGER AVN BRINGING BETTER INSTABILITY NOT ENOUGH MOISTURE FOR
MORE THAN ISOLATED ACTIVITY AND MAINLY IN THE HIGH COUNTRY.
ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LOW FROM A TRACE UP TO A TENTH AN INCH.
BIGGEST CONCERN...DUE TO ON GOING WILDFIRE PROBLEMS...WILL BE
INCREASED WINDS FROM THE SOUTH PEAKING FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO EARLY
SATURDAY MORNING. WILL GO BREEZY MOST AREAS WITH 45 KT GUST POSSIBLE
NEAR ANY TSRA AND OF COURSE DRY LIGHTNING. CURRENTLY HAVE RED FLAG
OUT FOR SW CO AND CONSIDERING FIRE WATCH FOR MOST OF CO AND UT ON
FRIDAY. IF SMOKE CONTINUES MAX TEMPS WILL DROP A FEW POINTS UNDER
GUIDANCE. DJC/21
EXTENDED (MON-THU)...EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO WILL BE IN A
VERY WARM AND DRY PATTERN THROUGH THIS PERIOD. STRONG UPPER LEVEL
HIGH PRESSURE DOMINATE THE WEATHER WITH THE RIDGE AXIS CENTERED OVER
NEW MEXICO AND COLORADO. STILL CANNOT RULE OUT THREAT OF ISOLATED
CONVECTION MIDWEEK ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE AS MOISTURE GETS
TRAPPED BENEATH RIDGE. TEMPERATURES WILL BE ABOVE NORMAL HOWEVER...
WILL HAVE TO WATCH HOW MIGRATION OF SMOKE FROM WILDFIRES AFFECTS
LOCAL CLIMATE. DJN.83
.GJT...RED FLAG WARNING FOR FIRE ZONE 207 UNTIL 10 PM.
FIRE WEATHER WATCH UTAH FIRE ZONES 445 THRU 449 AND COLORADO
ZONES 203...205...207 FOR FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Wisconsin, June 20, 2002
- Hail in New Mexico, June 20, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, June 20, 2002
- Hail in Iowa, June 20, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, June 20 to 21, 2002
- Hail in Nebraska, June 20 to 21, 2002
- Lightning Strike in Texas, June 20, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Colorado, June 20 to 21, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Wind in South Dakota, June 20 to 21, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Colorado, June 20, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Mississippi, June 20, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, June 20, 2002
More
Every storm in Utah in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, June 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: 5304220.