Several years of below normal precipitation resulted in long term drought across western Colorado.
Every event with a place to put it; 21 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 episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.
Several years of below normal precipitation resulted in long term drought across western Colorado.
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 31, 1:21 PM MST, 10 hours 39 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 221 PM MDT THU MAY 31 2007 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY)... FAIRLY STRONG TROUGH AND COLD FRONT CHUGGING SOUTH THROUGH WYOMING THIS AFTERNOON. LEADING EDGE OF CLOUDS OVER KRIL AND KRKS ON SATELLITE IMAGES. BAND OF PRECIPITATION HANGING BACK A BIT AND CUTTING WYOMING ABOUT IN HALF FROM SE TO NW. RUC/NAM/GFS ALL HANDLING TONIGHTS FORECAST ABOUT THE SAME. WYOMING SYSTEM TO PLUNGE SOUTH ALONG THE FRONT RANGE AND EAST OF THE DIVIDE. BEST PRECIPIATION OUGHT TO STAY EAST OF THE DIVIDE WITH MID AND HIGH CLOUDINESS SPREADING ACROSS NE UTAH...NW AND CENTRAL CO THIS EVENING...AND PUSHING SOUTH OF THE EASTERN HALF OF THE SAN JUAN MTS LATE TONIGHT. MADE LARGE CHANGES TO THE CLOUD COVER FORECAST FOR TONIGHT AND FRIDAY AS PLENTY OF CLOUD SHOWED REMAIN OVER THE NORTHEASTERN THREE QUARTERS OF THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH FRIDAY. POPS WERE INCREASED MAINLY IN THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL CO MTS AND ADJACENT LOWER ELEVATIONS. THIS FEATURE SHOULD TEMPER THE WARM UP A LITTLE FRIDAY WITH A BIT OF COLD ADVECTION AND CLOUD COVER. FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...THE RIDGE BUILDING OVER THE GREAT BASIN WILL PUSH THE FRONT AND ITS CLOUDS EAST. TEMPS WILL CONTINUE TO CLIMB AND DRY CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL. .LONG TERM (SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY)...NO MAJOR CHANGES TO THE FORECAST WITH THE BIG STORY CONTINUING TO BE THE RIDGE OVER THE GREAT BASIN AND ASSOCIATED VERY WARM AND DRY WEATHER. NORTHERN PLAINS UPPER LOW MOVES EAST ALLOWING THE RIDGE TO SHIFT OVER THE FORECAST AREA. TEMPERATURES WARM STEADILY WITH TUESDAY LOOKING TO BE THE WARMEST DAY OF THE YEAR SO FAR. A COUPLE OF WEAK WAVES STILL EXPECTED TO RIDE ALONG THE EASTERN EDGE OF THE RIDGE SUN-MON BRINING A SMALL CHANCE OF ISOLATED ACTIVITY IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS PRIMARILY NEAR THE DIVIDE. THE RIDGE THEN FLATTENS INTO A MORE ZONAL FLOW ON WEDNESDAY WITH A BOUNDARY ENTERING THE AREA...THE MOST RECENT GFS BRINGS IT OVER THE CWA BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...SLIGHTLY EARLIER THAN THAN PREVIOUS RUNS. HAVE ELECTED TO BUY INTO THE EARLIER APPROACH WHICH WOULD MAKE WED A FEW DEGREES COOLER THAN TUES...BUT STILL VERY WARM AND DRY. LUD && .AVIATION... EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO EARLY THIS EVENING. TYPICAL SLOPE AND VALLEY BREEZES WILL PREVAIL OVER MOST OF THE AREA. THE EXCEPTION WILL BE OVER THE COLORADO NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS WHERE A COLD FRONT WILL BRING INCREASING CLOUDS WITH LOCAL MVFR CEILINGS AND ISOLATED SHOWERS LATER TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...NONE .UT...NONE. CJC/PF/LUD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 545 AM MDT THU MAY 31 2007 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-011145- ANIMAS RIVER BASIN-ARCHES/GRAND FLAT-CANYONLANDS/NATURAL BRIDGES- CENTRAL COLORADO RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL GUNNISON AND UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL YAMPA RIVER BASIN-DEBEQUE TO SILT CORRIDOR- EASTERN UINTA BASIN-EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS-FLAT TOPS- FOUR CORNERS/UPPER DOLORES RIVER- GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS- GRAND VALLEY-LA SAL AND ABAJO MOUNTAINS-LOWER YAMPA RIVER BASIN- NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-PARADOX VALLEY/LOWER DOLORES RIVER- ROAN AND TAVAPUTS PLATEAUS-SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN-SOUTHEAST UTAH- SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-TAVAPUTS PLATEAU- UNCOMPAHGRE PLATEAU AND DALLAS DIVIDE-UPPER GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY- UPPER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS- 545 AM MDT THU MAY 31 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON MOUNTAIN THUNDERSTORMS NEAR THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE SUNDAY AND MONDAY...OTHERWISE NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY AND TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
21 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry to Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry to Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry to Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Moderate Drought to Severe Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry to Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Moderate Drought to Severe Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry to Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry to Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry to Moderate Drought conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
Warm temperatures and the lack of precipitation caused Abnormally Dry conditions to persist across the area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, June 2007
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: 39495, 40526, 40527, 40528, 40529, 40530, 40531, 40532, 40535, 40544, 40545, 40546, 40547, 40548, 40549, 40551, 40553, 40554, 40555, 40556, 40558.