1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 1, 12:35 PM MST, 1 hour 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 135 PM MDT SUN AUG 1 2004 .SHORT TERM DISCUSSION...HIGH BASED SHOWERS/STORMS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP IN THE HIGH COUNTRY. EVEN SOME HIGH BASED CU ON THE PLAINS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. GOING FORECAST OF ISOLATED STORMS WITH GUSTY WINDS ON TRACK. MORNING SOUNDING AND ACARS DATA FROM DENVER SHOWED LAPSE RATES DRY ADIABATIC TO 500MB...SO THREAT OF MICROBURSTS IS THERE. ONLY QUESTION THIS AFTERNOON IS WHETHER TO EXTEND ISOLATED SHOWERS/STORMS FARTHER EAST ON THE PLAINS. SATELLITE SHOWS A PRETTY DECENT CU FIELD OVER THE HIGHER RIDGES...BUT LIFTING CONDENSATION LEVELS ARE 12 TO 13 THOUSAND FEET ABOVE GROUND. AT THIS TIME...WILL JUST PLAY THE CURRENT CUMULUS FILLED RIDGES WITH ISOLATED POPS AND LEAVE THE REST OF THE NORTHEAST CORNER DRY FOR NOW. LINGERING MID/HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS WILL DELAY COOLDOWN TONIGHT...SO WENT ABOVE GUIDANCE FOR LOW TEMPERATURES. ON TUESDAY...CONVECTION SHOULD INCREASE A BIT MORE IN/NEAR THE MOUNTAINS AS ANOTHER WAVE IS SEEN ON WATER VAPOR MOVES NORTHWARD. PRECIPITABLE WATER SHOULD INCREASE AND LCL WILL COME DOWN A LITTLE...GIVING A SLIHGTLY BETTER CHANCE OF STORMS WITH RAIN. WILL BOOST POPS JUST A BIT OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS...OTHERWISE ANOTHER DAY OF WIND PRODUCING STORMS AND 10-20 PERCENT POPS SEEMS REASONABLE. TEMPS MAYBE JUST A DEGREE OR TWO COOLER WITH EARLIER CLOUD DEVELOPMENT. .LONG TERM DISCUSSION...UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL REMAIN ACROSS SRN ROCKIES THROUGH WED. SOME INCREASE IN TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL OCCUR ON TUE IN ASSOCIATION WITH A WEAK DISTURBANCE MOVING ACROSS WHICH MAY LEAD TO A BETTER CHC OF CONVECTION OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND ALONG THE FRONT RANGE. BY WED SOME DRYING IS FORECAST TO OCCUR SO EXPECT LESS CONVECTION IN THE MTNS. TEMPS THRU WED WILL CONTINUE HOT WITH READINGS IN THE 90S OVER NERN CO HOWEVER SOME TYPE OF WEAK FRONT MAY AFFECT THE FAR NERN CORNER ON WED WHICH COULD BRING IN SOME SLIGHTLY COOLER AIR. FOR THU AND FRI NOT MUCH CHANGE EXPECTED AS UPPER LEVEL RIDGE REMAINS IN PLACE. ENOUGH MID LVL MOISTURE WILL EXIST COMBINED WITH DECENT LAPSE RATES TO ALLOW FOR SOME ISOLD-WDLY SCT CONVECITON MAINLY OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. TEMPS WILL REMAIN GENERALLY IN THE 90S ACROSS NERN CO. BY NEXT WEEKEND FLOW WILL BEGIN TO SHOW SOME MINOR CHANGES AS UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL RETROGRADE SLIGHTLY WITH FLOW ACROSS NRN CO BECOMING MORE NWLY. IN ADDITION A FRONT MAY AFFECT NERN CO BY SAT AND ALLOW FOR LOW LVL MOISTURE TO INCREASE. THUS MAY SEE SOME MINOR COOLING WITH POSSIBLY A BETTER CHC OF CONVECTION NEXT SAT AND SUN. && .BOU...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && BARJENBRUCH/RPK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1049 AM MDT SUN AUG 01 2004 COZ030>051-021200- JACKSON COUNTY BELOW 9000 FEET-WEST JACKSON AND WEST GRAND COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-GRAND AND SUMMIT COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND EAST JACKSON/LARIMER/NORTH AND NORTHEAST GRAND/ NORTHWEST BOULDER COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST GRAND/WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST BOULDER/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/ SUMMIT/NORTH AND WEST PARK COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-LARIMER AND BOULDER COUNTIES BETWEEN 6000 AND 9000 FEET-JEFFERSON AND WEST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/NORTHEAST PARK COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PARK COUNTY-LARIMER COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY-BOULDER AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES BELOW 6000 FEET/WEST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES/ EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-ELBERT/CENTRAL AND EAST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET-NORTHEAST WELD COUNTY-CENTRAL AND SOUTH WELD COUNTY-MORGAN COUNTY-CENTRAL AND EAST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES- NORTH AND NORTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTH LINCOLN COUNTY-SOUTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY-LOGAN COUNTY-WASHINGTON COUNTY-SEDGWICK COUNTY-PHILLIPS COUNTY- 1049 AM MDT SUN AUG 01 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS BY MID AFTERNOON AND THEN SPREAD EAST ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE PLAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE STORMS WILL PRODUCE BRIEF VERY STRONG WINDS...BUT LITTLE RAINFALL. WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR THE STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. BARJENBRUCH/RPK
The Denver radar (KFTG), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:32 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning killed a woman as she was hiking in French Gulch near Breckenridge. Four other people hiking with the woman were knocked down but suffered only minor injuries.
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, Summit | 2004-08-01 | 28 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, August 2004
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: 5421209.