Name: Flash Flood in Colorado, July 29, 2003
Start: 2003-07-29T14:15
End: 2003-07-29T15:30
Location: Colorado

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

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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.

Flash flooding inundated County Road 250 in the Animas Valley at seven different locations below the Missionary Ridge burned area. The flowing water, mud, and debris ran up to one foot in depth and deposited rocks up to 8 inches in diameter onto the road.

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 Jul 29, 1:27 PM MST, 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 29, 1:27 PM MST, 48 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
227 PM MDT TUE JUL 29 2003

SHORT TERM DISCUSSION (TONIGHT THROUGH WED NIGHT)...
SOUTHERN END OF SHEARING WAVE MOVING FROM WY INTO CNTL PLAINS
IS SAGGING SWD ACROSS ERN UT/WRN CO TODAY. GOES SOUNDER SHOWING
0.75 TO 1 INCH OF PWATER...SO MOISTURE STILL IN PLACE. REMNANTS OF
THIS WAVE AND ANY ENERGY ROTATING AROUND THE HIGH FOR MORE SHOWERS
AND TSTMS THIS AFTN/EVE...THEN DECREASING. WILL MENTION LOCALLY HEAVY
RAIN FOR ABOUT THE SRN HALF OF FORECAST AREA.

EASTERN EXTENSION OF THE UPPER HIGH CENTERED SOMEWHERE OVER THE WRN
GREAT BASIN IS SAGS INTO NM ON WED AS CANADIAN TROUGH DIGS INTO
THE UPPER MIDWEST. MODELS CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE DRYING FROM THE NW
ON WED...AND THIS STILL SEEMS REASONABLE AS NLY FLOW OVERSPREADS
MOST OF THE AREA. DRYING MAINLY ABOVE 500 MB...THOUGH...AS MOISTURE
REMAINS IN THE LOWER LAYER PER MOS GUIDANCE AND UPSTREAM SFC
DEWPTS. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE ALSO BRUSHES NRN ZONES...THOUGH WE WILL
REMAIN ON THE SUBSIDENT SIDE OF THE UPPER JET. DAYTIME INSTABILITY
AND TERRAIN WILL INDUCE SOME AFTN/EVE SHOWERS AND TSTMS AGAIN THOUGH
COVERAGE SHOULD BE LESS THAN THE PAST FEW DAYS. TWEAKED POPS GRIDS A
BIT...BUT NO BIG CHANGES FROM THE CURRENT FORECAST.  JAD

THURSDAY-SUNDAY...
UPPER LEVEL RIDGE SHIFTS SOUTHEAST WITH ITS CENTER REACHING CENTRAL
NEW MEXICO ON FRI.  MODELS CONTINUE TO KEEP THU RELATIVE DRY AS
COMPARED TO PREVIOUS FEW DAYS. HOWEVER ENOUGH MOISTURE AROUND FOR
AFTERNOON DEVELOPMENT.  THEN A WEAK WAVE IS SCHEDULED OVERNIGHT SO
WILL KEEP LOW POPS THROUGH THU NIGHT.  MOISTURE INCREASES FROM THE
SOUTH ON FRI AS THE RIDGE SHIFTS EAST. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS
REASONABLE WITH FAVORED AREA OVER THE SOUTH. WILL BROAD BRUSH CHANCE
INTO THE WEEKEND. PATTERN DEVELOPS INTO MORE OF THE TYPICAL MONSOON
SIGNATURE AS THE HIGH MOVES INTO THE HIGH PLAINS. TEMPS WILL DECREASE
AS THIS DEEPER MOISTURE MOVES INTO THE AREA. HEFFERNAN

MONDAY-TUESDAY...
THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BECOMES STATIONARY OVER EASTERN
COLORADO/WESTERN KANSAS WITH LITTLE CHANGE IN THE OVERALL WEATHER
OVER THE REGION. SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK NORTH
INTO THE REGION...WITH CHC POPS IN STORE EACH DAY. TEMPS NEAR NORMAL
THROUGH THE PERIOD. JDC

.GJT...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 29, 5:00 AM MST, 9 hours 15 minutes before

COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-301200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
600 AM MDT TUE JUL 29 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN COLORADO AND FOR
EASTERN UTAH

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT...

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP BY LATE
MORNING...AND LAST INTO THE EVENING.  A FEW STORMS WILL PRODUCE
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...CAUSING SUDDEN RISES OF DRY CREEKS AND
SMALL STREAMS...ESPECIALLY FOR THE SOUTHWESTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS
AND SAN JUAN COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN UTAH.  IN ADDITION...STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND SMALL HAIL
UP TO 1/2 INCH WILL ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER STORMS

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY...

ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE EACH AFTERNOON
AND EVENING...ESPECIALLY FOR AREAS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70.  THE MAIN
THREATS FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...WIND
GUSTS TO 40 MPH AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
HOWEVER...SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PHONE IN REPORTS OF HEAVY
SHOWERS...HAIL...AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS.

The radar

The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 200 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:17 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, La Plata

When: July 29, 2:15 PM MST to 3:30 PM MST
Where: La Plata County, 2 mi NE of Durango
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.287, -107.843 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Colorado in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, July 2003

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: 5379193.