2 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 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 Aug 24, 1:15 PM MST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 215 PM MDT SUN AUG 24 2003 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: BROAD W TO E ORIENTED UPR RIDGE WILL REMAIN OVER THE CWA TNGT. ENOUGH SUBTROPICAL MSTR WILL CONTINUE UNDER THE RIDGE FOR ISOLD TO SCT THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING...SIMILAR TO YDA. INTERACTIVE SOUNDINGS SHOW ENOUGH CAPE RANGING FM 600-800 J/KG WITH PW VALUES AGAIN AROUND AN INCH. WEAK FLOW AS WELL...SO LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE. NOT MUCH CHANGE OVERALL ON MONDAY WITH UPPER RIDGE HANGING OVER CO. FLOW BECOMES A BIT MORE WLY AS THE RIDGE FLATTENS. MDLS DO SHOW A WEAK DISTURBANCE POSSIBLY MOVING INTO CO DURING THE AFTN. A WEAK FRONT IS PROGGED TO SLIP INTO THE NERN PLAINS LATE IN THE AFTN AS WELL. THIS FRONT COULD BE THE FOCUS OF SOME THUNDERSTORMS. THE SFC THETA-E RIDGE IS PROGGED TO SHIFT S OVER THE PALMER DIVIDE SO WILL HEDGE BEST POPS ACRS SRN AND WRN PTNS OF THE CWA. WEAK SHEAR AND NEARLY STATIONARY MOVEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE STORMS ON MONDAY SO LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN THE MAIN THREAT FM THE STORMS. GUIDANCE COOLER WITH AFTN TEMPERATURES AS WELL...MID TO UPPER 80S SEEMS LIKE A GOOD COMPROMISE FOR MOST PLAINS LOCATIONS. COOPER LONG TERM DISCUSSION: GRIDS SHOW THE ONE OF THE UPPER RIDGE CENTERS OVER UTAH AND FOUR CORNERS AREA MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. ON TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY...THE RIDGE CENTER MOVES INTO NEW MEXICO WITH A WEAK UPPER TROUGH MOVING INTO NORTHEASTERN COLORADO BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON. THE JET LEVEL FLOW IS MAINLY WEST-NORTHWESTERLY OVER THE FORECAST AREA AT 15 TO 30 KNOTS THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THE ONLY REAL SYNOPTIC SCALE FORCING NOTED ON THE DIV-Q GRIDS IS OF THE DOWNWARD VARIETY...ALBEIT WEAK...PROGGED FOR TUESDAY NIGHT OVER THE FORECAST AREA. THE REST IS NEUTRAL. AT THE LOWER LEVEL...GRIDS SHOW A BIT OF A SURGE OF UPSLOPE FLOW ON TUESDAY FOR THE PLAINS. CONCERNING MOISTURE...THERE IS PLENTY OF MID AND UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE PROGGED MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY...THEN TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MID DAY WEDNESDAY ITS PRETTY DRY. BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON ...THE SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE RETURNS AT THE MID AND UPPER LEVELS. GRIDS SHOW THE LOW LEVEL THETA-E AXIS WELL SOUTH AND EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA MONDAY EVENING. IT RETURNS SOMEWHAT FOR LATE DAY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. ITS NOT SIGNIFICANT BY ANY MEANS. QPF GRIDS SHOW THE MOST RAINFALL MONDAY EVENING...TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY LATE DAY RAIN IS MINIMAL. GRIDS/FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOW MINIMAL CAPE VALUES MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY LATE DAY...WITH ONLY A BIT MORE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. LAPSE RATES ON THE CROSS SECTIONS SHOW SOMETHING OF A MID LEVEL STABLE LAYER THROUGH THE PERIOD. WILL GO THE BEST POPS MONDAY EVENING...THEN NORTHING MORE THE 20% FOR BOTH TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. TEMPERATURE GRIDS SHOW A BIT OF COOL DOWN ON MONDAY...THEN HIGHS SHOW WARM SLIGHTLY FOR TUESDAY AND AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...THE MODELS MIGRATE THE UPPER HIGH CENTER WAY EAST OF HERE...WITH WEAK TROUGHINESS OVER THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH FRIDAY. BY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...A WEAK RIDGE RETURNS FROM THE SOUTHWEST. THE TROUGH USHERS IN UPSLOPE AND A COOLER AIRMASS LATE THURSDAY/EARLY FRIDAY. THIS NEW AIRMASS LOOKS TO STICK AROUND THROUGH SATURDAY. MOISTURE IS NOT GREAT...LIKELY THE TIMING ON EVERYTHING IS NOT GREAT AS WELL. WILL MAKE SURE TEMPERATURES ARE COOLER FOR THE WEEKEND AND WILL KEEP SOME POPS GOING. RJK .DEN...NONE.
COZ030>051-251200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1124 AM MDT SUN AUG 24 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS BY MIDDAY...WHILE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE PLAINS AFTER 2 PM. WIND SHEAR AND INSTABILITY IN THE ATMOSPHERE IS WEAK TODAY...SO THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. A PLUME OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE STREAMING OUT OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST WILL COMBINE WITH AFTERNOON HEATING TO PRODUCE THE THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY. THE CHANCES OF STORMS MAY INCREASE A BIT THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY AS A NEW COOLER MORE MOIST AIRMASS WILL MOVE INTO THE FORECAST AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. COOP/KOOP
The Denver radar (KFTG), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:45 UTC.
2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lighting struck and killed a man as he was riding his motorcycle. The man was struck in the head as he was riding along State Highway 24 just inside the county line.
Lightning struck a teenager while he was four-wheeling over Red Cone Pass with friends. The teenage was struck on the right side of the chest. He stopped breathing and was resuscitated by a friend.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Park | 2003-08-24 | 59 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, August 2003
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: 5374738, 5374666.