Wildfire in Utah, June 22 to 24, 2003

Name: Wildfire in Utah, June 22 to 24, 2003
Start: 2003-06-22T17:00
End: 2003-06-24T14:00
Location: Utah

June 22 to 24, 2003 · NWS GJT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Lightning was the probable cause of the Spruce Fire which occurred in Horse Canyon along the Book Cliffs. The fire consumed around 23 acres of pinyon pine and juniper trees.

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
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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.

Lightning was the probable cause of the Spruce Fire which occurred in Horse Canyon along the Book Cliffs. The fire consumed around 23 acres of pinyon pine and juniper trees.

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 22, 1:15 PM MST, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 22, 1:15 PM MST, 3 hours 45 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
215 PM MDT SUN JUN 22 2003

SHORT TERM...
ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ALONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY
STRETCHING FROM NORTH OF GREEN RIVER TO CAG EARLY THIS AFTERNOON.
SOUTH OF THE BOUNDARY AIRMASS WAS WARM AND DRY WITH GUSTY WINDS
PUSHING TEMPERATURES A FEW DEGREES AHEAD OF THIS TIME YESTERDAY.
SYNOPTIC SITUATION REMAINS LARGELY UNCHANGED WITH AFOREMENTIONED
FRONT ACROSS THE NORTHWEST WITH OVERRIDING JET.

TONIGHT: FRONT WILL REMAIN ACROSS THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF THE CWFA
OVERNIGHT WITH REINFORCING JET MAX MOVING ALONG THE BOUNDARY
OVERNIGHT. CONSEQUENTLY...KEPT LOW POPS THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR
PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST COLORADO AND NORTHEAST UTAH. MEANWHILE...
SOUTHERN CWFA DRY AND MILD OVERNIGHT.

MONDAY-MONDAY: SURFACE GRADIENT COMBINED WITH STRONG SOUTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT WILL BRING BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS TO MUCH OF THE CWFA.
MEANWHILE...TROF OVER THE WESTERN US TILTS SLIGHTLY INDICATING
POSSIBLE DRY SLOT ACROSS THE NORTH. COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS...
LOW DEWPOINTS/RH POINTS TO DANGEROUS AND UNPREDICTABLE FIRE BEHAVIOR.
CONSEQUENTLY...WILL GO AHEAD WITH FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR MONDAY
AFTERNOON. MEANWHILE...CONTINUED LOW POPS ACROSS THE NORTH DUE TO
CONTINUED PRESENCE OF JET AND PERSISTENT BOUNDARY ACROSS THE NORTH.
TEMPERATURES WARM AS FLOW SHIFTS A BIT MORE SOUTHERLY THAN OVER THE
PAST FEW DAYS. WINDS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE LATE EVENING HOURS UNTIL
DIURNAL COOLING RESULTS IN DECOUPLING FOR VALLEY LOCALES. LITTLE
CHANGE EXPECTED IN OVERNIGHT LOWS OR CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION ACROSS
THE NORTHERN ZONES MONDAY NIGHT. NL

LONG-TERM DISCUSSION...
TUESDAY...WIND AND FIRE WX CONCERNS STILL THE MAIN CONCERN THIS
PERIOD. GRADIENT WINDS GENERATED ON TUESDAY AHEAD OF COLD FRONT
LIKELY TO PRODUCE SURFACE WINDS AS STRONG AS ON MONDAY.  ETA
AND AVN MODELS ARE CONSISTENT BRINGING COLD FRONT INTO NE UTAH
TUESDAY AFTERNOON...AND THEN ACROSS OUR ENTIRE CWA TUE NIGHT.
LOOKS LIKE ONLY MARGINAL MOISTURE ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL
ZONES...THOUGH SHOULD BE UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO GENERATE CONVECTION
MAINLY OVER MOUNTAINS RESULTING IN LIGHTNING BUT ONLY LITTLE
RAINFALL.

WEDNESDAY...UPPER TROUGH EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA.
NOT AS WINDY...AND TEMPS COOLER. STILL ONLY SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND TSTMS MAINLY NORTHERN MOUNTAINS AS MOISTURE STILL APPEARS
LIMITED.

THURSDAY-FRIDAY...SLOW WARMING TREND THROUGH THIS PERIOD AS SHORT
WAVE ENERGY WILL HAVE SHIFTED EAST OF THE AREA...LEAVING OUR CWA
UNDER NW FLOW ALOFT ON THU AND THEN A MORE WESTERLY FLOW ON FRI.
JRP

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...LAST EVENINGS GFS RUN SHOWED SOME MOISTURE
CREEPING BACK INTO SOUTHWEST COLORADO.  THIS WOULD MEAN A POTENTIAL
FOR A FEW MOUNTAIN THUNDERSTORMS.  THIS IS DEPENDENT ON MANY FACTORS
OF THE MESOSCALE FEATURES AS OPPOSED TO SYNOPTIC SCALE. FOR NOW...DUE
TO UNCERTAINTY...WILL KEEP FORECASTS ESSENTIALLY DRY FOR NEXT
WEEKEND. JRP/PF

.GJT...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR ALL OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN
       UTAH MONDAY AFTERNOON.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 22, 1:15 PM MST, 3 hours 45 minutes before

COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-231130-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
215 PM MDT SUN JUN 22 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN
COLORADO

.DAY ONE...REST OF TODAY AND TONIGHT...
WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY
EVENING HOURS OVER NORTHEAST UTAH AND NORTHWEST COLORADO.
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL PERSIST ACROSS NORTHEAST UTAH
AND NORTHWEST COLORADO OVERNIGHT. GUSTY THUNDERSTORM WINDS
TO 45 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE...MAINLY ACROSS THE LOWER ELEVATIONS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...(MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY)...
...FIRE WEATHER WATCH EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO MONDAY...
BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY...ALONG WITH
WARM TEMPERATURES AND LOWERING RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL RESULT
IN INCREASED FIRE DANGER. ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
...WITH LITTLE OR NO RAINFALL...ARE EXPECTED OVER THE NORTHERN AND
CENTRAL MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH MONDAY THROUGH
WEDNESDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED FOR THE REST OF TODAY OR
TONIGHT.

JRP

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Grand

When: June 22, 5:00 PM MST to June 24, 2:00 PM MST
Where: Grand County, 20 mi NE of Crescent Jct
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 38.982, -109.570 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

Every storm in Utah in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Utah, June 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: 5366265.