2 flash flood, 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 Jul 27, 2:15 AM MST, 0 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 315 AM MDT SUN JUL 27 2003 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: RUNNING WAY BEHIND DUE TO WEATHER TONIGHT SO DISCUSSION WILL BE BRIEF. COOL FRONT HAS MOVED THROUGH AREA AND SHOULD BRING DOWN TEMPS TODAY AS LOW LVL FLOW BECOMES MORE SELY. 700 MB TEMPS ARE FCST TO DROP AROUND 5 DEGREES FROM SATURDAY AND WITH MORE CLOUD COVER AND DEEPER LOW LVL MSTR HIGHS SHOULD ONLY REACH INTO THE LOWER TO MID 80S ACRS THE PLAINS. AS FAR AS PCPN WITH SHOULD SEE ANOTHER ROUND OF TSTMS BY LATE AFTN INTO THE EVENING HRS UNLESS CONVECTIVE TEMPS ARENT REACHED. WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES OVR AN INCH AND WK FLOW ALOFT STORMS WL BE SLOW MOVING AND COULD PRODUCE SUBSTANTIAL RAIN IN SOME SPOTS. WITH LOW LVL SELY FLOW COULD SEE DENVER CYCLONE DVLP WHICH COULD ACT AS A FOCUS FOR CONVECTION LATER THIS AFTN. KLEYLA LONG TERM DISCUSSION: MODELS SHOW UPPER RIDGE CENTER TO MIGRATE OVER THE GREAT BASIN ON MONDAY AT 12Z. THEN IT STAYS THERE THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON. THROUGH THOSE TREE PERIODS...THE GRIDS SHOW FAIRLY BRISK NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER THE FORECAST AREA. THE JET LEVEL SPEEDS RANGE FROM 35 TO 55 KNOTS THROUGH TUESDAY LATE DAY. LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ANY SYNOPTIC SCALE FORCING IS INDICATED THROUGH TUESDAY. AT THE LOWER LEVELS...GRIDS SHOW A EASTERLY COMPONENT TO THE BOUNDARY LAYER WINDS MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT. A DECENT THETA-E AXIS STAYS OVER THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH THAT TIME. ON TUESDAY ...THE THETA-E AXIS PUSHES SOUTH AND WEST OF THE FORECAST AREA. THE CROSS SECTIONS SHOW GOOD LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ON MONDAY...THEN IT DRIES OUT PRETTY GOOD MONDAY NIGHT. ON TUESDAY...INCREASING MID LEVEL MOISTURE IS INDICATED. THE CROSS SECTIONS SHOW THE BEST POTENTIAL INSTABILITY ON MONDAY. LAPSE RATES ARE FAIRLY STEEP MONDAY INTO EARLY TUESDAY...THEN SOME MID LAYER WARMING CAPS THINGS OFF A BIT BY AFTERNOON OVER THE MOUNTAINS. THE BEST CAPES FOR THE AREA ARE INDICATED LATE DAY MONDAY. VERY LIMITED CAPE IS INDICATED ON TUESDAY. WILL PUT THE HIGHER POPS ON MONDAY LATE IN THE DAY...BUT WILL STILL KEEP SOME GOING ON TUESDAY. FOR TEMPERATURES...AGREED WITH THE PREVIOUS SHIFT WITH THE COOL DOWN...BUT NOT TO THE DEGREE THAT THE VARIOUS MOS GUIDANCE PRODUCTS ARE INDICATING. MONDAYS HIGHS LOOK ABOUT 1-3 C COOLER THEN TODAY EXPECTED READINGS. TUESDAY WARMS UP ABOUT 1-2 C FROM MONDAYS. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD... WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY...THE UPPER RIDGE STAYS WEST OF THE FORECAST AREA THURSDAY...THEN BEGINS PUSHING EASTWARD. BY SATURDAY...THE RIDGE CENTER IS EAST OF COLORADO. THAT SEEMS A FAVORABLE LOCATION FOR MONSOON MOISTURE TO BE OVER THE FORECAST AREA. WILL LET THE EXTENDED BE FOR THIS UPDATE. RJK .DEN...NONE.
COZ030>051-271200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1100 AM MDT SAT JUL 26 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON IN THE HIGH COUNTRY. SOME OF THE STORMS WILL APPROACH THE FRONT RANGE BY LATE AFTERNOON...BUT LITTLE BESIDES WIND CAN BE EXPECTED FROM THE STORMS. IT WILL BE TOO STABLE ACROSS THE PLAINS FOR MORE THAN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. A TROUGH WILL MOVE INTO THE EASTERN PLAINS TONIGHT WITH UPSLOPE FLOW DEVELOPING BEHIND IT. SINCE THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BE VERY MOIST TONIGHT...SOME SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL MAY BE POSSIBLE IN AREAS OF THE FOOTHILLS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR OVER THE MOUNTAINS SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WITH POSSIBLY HEAVY RAIN WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE ON THE PLAINS SUNDAY. A COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE OVER THE NORTHEASTERN PLAINS SUNDAY MORNING. THERE SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT MOISTURE...INSTABILITY AND LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT...FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE NORTHEAST PLAINS OF COLORADO...ESPECIALLY DURING THE AFTERNOON. DRIER AND WARMER CONDITIONS WILL RETURN TO THE AREA BY MIDWEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
The Denver radar (KFTG), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:16 UTC.
2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Very heavy rain, up to 5 inches estimated by doppler radar, caused flash flooding in west central Washington County. Sections of County Roads S and P were washed out by the torrential rain.
A thunderstorm producing heavy rain caused flash flooding and mudslides in the Hayman burn area in southwestern Douglas County. Storm spotters reported washouts in and around the Westcreek area. South of Deckers, approximately 3 miles of State Highway 67 was closed by a flow of decomposed granite and forest debris, making the roadway impassable. Several newly installed drainage culverts were inundated with debris. Runoff along the fire damaged slopes, about 9 miles south of Deckers, uprooted 200 to 300 trees and washed them into the drainage system. In all, seven mudslides were reported, some ranging from 5 to 7 feet deep. Sixty-foot spruce trees slid onto the highway along with boulders up to 3 ft. in diameter. The Colorado Department of Transportation hauled 70 truckloads of debris from the highway.
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, July 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: 5331592, 5331593.