An apparent microburst from a towering cumulus cloud struck a small group of farm houses about seven miles south of Durango. The roof of a 50 foot by 20 foot farm building was blown off and destroyed.
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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.
An apparent microburst from a towering cumulus cloud struck a small group of farm houses about seven miles south of Durango. The roof of a 50 foot by 20 foot farm building was blown off and destroyed. Part of a garage roof was peeled up. Two smaller farm storage buildings were blown away and destroyed. The farm buildings landed on a new steel shed and a modular home. The steel shed was destroyed. In addition to damage to the modular home from the air borne farm building, a section of the roof on the modular home was lifted up. The roof of one of the farm buildings also struck a mobile home.
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 May 30, 1:45 PM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 245 PM MDT FRI MAY 30 2003 YESTERDAY/S CONVECTION HELPED INCREASE PRECIPITABLE WATER TO EIGHT TENTHS OF AN INCH ON THE 12Z KGJT SOUNDING. THUNDERSTORMS QUICK TO FIRE BY LATE MORNING WITH STRONG SURFACE HEATING UNDER MOSTLY CLEAR CONDITIONS. STEERING WINDS ALOFT LESS THAN 10 KNOTS LEADING TO SLOW MOVING PULSE STORMS. BUT ISOLATED STRONG STORMS WHERE CLOUD TOPS WILL REACH THE TROPOPAUSE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE HEAVY RAIN PRODUCERS. GENERALLY SPEAKING...MOST STORMS WILL ONLY GENERATE BRIEF MODERATE RAIN THAT LAST 20 MINUTES OR LESS. OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES AND CONVERGENCE ZONES WILL TRIGGER ADDITIONAL STORMS FOR THE LOWER ELEVATIONS BY LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING...SO THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA. TRAILING SHORT WAVE MOVING ACROSS THE NORTHERN INTERMOUNTAIN REGION WILL KEEP SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDER THAT LAST BEYOND MIDNIGHT. SO WILL NOT BE SO QUICK TO CLEAR THINGS OUT OVERNIGHT. ONCE SHORT WAVE PASSES TO THE NORTH OF COLORADO EARLY SATURDAY MORNING...THE FLOW ALOFT SHIFTS TO WEST NORTHWEST. THIS WILL SHUNT THE MOISTURE SOUTHWARD AND PRECIPITABLE WATER WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER. DRY ADVECTION WILL RESULT IN NO STORMS ACROSS MOST OF EASTERN UTAH AND NORTHWEST COLORADO. BUT CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL WILL STILL EXIST OVER THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS...PRIMARILY OVER THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS AND CLOSE THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. THESE STORMS WILL QUICKLY DISSIPATE AFTER SUNSET AND SKIES WILL BE CLEAR OVERNIGHT. FRISBIE SUNDAY: IN A TRANSITIONING PATTERN...BOTH THE 12Z ETA AND AVN AGREE ON A LACK OF WET CONVECTION. BUT WITH SOME QUESTION OF HOW FAST RESIDUAL MOISTURE WILL ERODE...HAVE KEPT AN ISOLATED POPS FOR ONLY THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS OF THE CO MTNS. MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: AFTER A GOOD PUMMELING...THE RIDGE REBOUNDS BUT NOW ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST. THIS LEAVES THE CWA IN A MORE SEASONAL DRIER AND LESS-HOT NW FLOW. PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS WERE KEYING ON A LOW PRESSURE AREA IN THE SOUTHERN BRANCH THAT MAY HAVE ADVECTED MOISTURE INTO THIS AREA. BUT THIS SCENARIO HAS BEEN ABANDONED. WEAK DISTURBANCES COULD CREATE ENOUGH SYNOPTIC LIFT AND INSTABILITY MAINLY IN THE NORTHERN CO MTNS. OTHERWISE WILL ELIMINATE POPS AND ALSO LOWER TEMPERATURES SOMEWHAT THROUGH THE PERIOD. RAMEY .GJT...RIVER FLOOD WARNING FOR COLORADO ZONES 1/2/5/8/10.
COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-311145- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 545 AM MDT FRI MAY 30 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN COLORADO AND FOR EASTERN UTAH .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING OVER MUCH OF EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS TO NEAR 50 MPH...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND GENERALLY LIGHT RAINFALL AMOUNTS. HOWEVER...DUE TO LIGHT STEERING WINDS ALOFT...THE STORMS WILL BE SLOW MOVING...THUS A FEW OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... THERE IS A CHANCE OF AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS EACH DAY THROUGH THURSDAY. MOST OF THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS AND LITTLE OR NO RAIN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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, May 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: 5357314.