In Park County at 11-Mile Reservoir, a waterspout caused damage when it transitioned into a landspout. Five vehicles were damaged, including a motor home and a pickup truck with a camper that overturned.
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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 BOU wrote it up.
In Park County at 11-Mile Reservoir, a waterspout caused damage when it transitioned into a landspout. Five vehicles were damaged, including a motor home and a pickup truck with a camper that overturned. One camp trailer was completely destroyed. Several people suffered superficial injuries which consisted of minor cuts and scrapes. In Douglas County near Westcreek, another landspout touched down. One man was seriously injured when he tried to escape several falling trees in his ATV. One of the trees struck his back and broke two vertabrae. Another camper narrowly escaped injury. Seconds after he backed up his truck, a tree came down where his vehicle had been parked.
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 23, 1:52 AM MST, 11 hours 23 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 252 AM MDT SAT AUG 23 2008 .SHORT TERM...A WEAK DISTURBANCE COMBINED WITH SOME ISENTROPIC LIFT HAS BEEN PRODUCING SOME NOCTURNAL TSTMS EARLY THIS MORNING OVER LINCOLN COUNTY. IT APPEARS THIS ACTIVITY WILL LINGER THRU MID MORNING BEFORE ENDING SO WILL NEED SOME LOW POPS THRU 14Z OR SO. BY THIS AFTN THE FLOW ALOFT WILL BE WEAK WNW AS A FLAT UPPER LEVEL RIDGE IS OVER THE AREA. MEANWHILE SFC LOW PRESSURE WILL DVLP OVER WRN CO AS SFC HIGH PRESSURE MOVES EAST INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR A DECENT SFC GRADIENT TO DVLP WITH INCREASING SELY LOW LEVEL FLOW EAST OF THE MTNS. THE AIRMASS WILL BECOME FAIRLY UNSTABLE BY AFTN IN THE FOOTHILLS AND ALONG THE FRONT RANGE URBAN CORRIDOR WITH CAPES IN THE 1000-1500 J/KG RANGE WHILE FURTHER EAST OVER THE PLAINS IT WILL NOT BE AS UNSTABLE. THUS IT APPEARS BEST CHC FOR TSTM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE IN THE MTNS...FOOTHILLS AND OVER THE PALMER DIVIDE LATER THIS AFTN INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. ALONG THE FRONT RANGE BUFFER SOUNDINGS HOWEVER SHOW A CAPPING INVERSION FROM 700-750 MB WHICH MAY INHIBIT TSTM DEVELOPMENT HOWEVER OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES FROM STORMS IN THE FOOTHILLS AND OVER THE PLAMER DIVIDE WILL PROBALY ALLOW FOR A FEW TSTMS TO DVLP OVER THE URBAN CORRIDOR. WITH A FAVORABLE SHEAR PROFILE COULD SEE AN ISOLD SVR STORM PRODUCE MARGINAL LARGE HAIL IN A FEW SPOTS. MEANWHILE PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES ARE AROUND AN INCH SO HEAVY RAIN MAY ALSO OCCUR. TEMPERATURES THIS AFTN SHOULD BE A FEW DEGREES WARMER THAN YESTERDAY ESPECIALLY CLOSER TO THE FOOTHILLS WHERE 850-700 MB TEMPS RISE A COUPLE OF DEGREES. FURTHER EAST OVER THE PLAINS LITTLE CHANGE IN 850-700 TEMPS ARE FCST TO OCCUR. FOR TONIGHT TSTM ACTIVITY SHOULD GRADUALLY END IN THE EARLY EVENING HOURS AS CAN SEE NO FEATURE TO KEEP ACTIVITY GOING PAST MIDNIGHT. .LONG TERM...MODELS KEEP AN UPPER RIDGE OVER THE FORECAST AREA SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT WITH ITS AXIS JUST TO OUR WEST. THERE IS LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ANY SYNOPTIC SCALE ENERGY OVER US THROUGH THE PERIODS. THE BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW LOOKS TO BE DRIVEN BY STANDARD DIURNAL PATTERNS SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY...WITH TROUGHING EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS MONDAY NIGHT AND SOME SOUTHWESTERLY DOWNSLOPING. FOR MOISTURE...BOTH MODELS HAVE SOME IN THE MID AND UPPER LEVELS THROUGH THE PERIODS...WITH A BIT OVER THE LOWERS LEVELS OF THE PLAINS. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES ARE IN THE 0.65 TO 1.10 INCH RANGE THROUGH ALL THE PERIODS...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS OVER THE NORTHEAST CORNER. BOUNDARY LAYER DEW POINTS ARE IN THE 50S TO LOWER 60S F FOR THE EASTERN PLAINS SUNDAY AFTERNOON...WITH 40S F OVER THE WESTERN PLAINS. FOR LATE DAY MONDAY...PROGGS HAVE 30S TO LOWER 40S C OVER THE WESTERN PLAINS...WITH 40S TO LOWER 50S OVER THE EAST. THERE IS A THETA-E AXIS OVER THE PLAINS BOTH LATE DAY SUNDAY AND LATE DAY MONDAY...WITH SUNDAYS THE BETTER OF THE TWO. CAPE VALUES ARE FAIRLY HIGH OVER THE FORECAST AREA LATE SUNDAY...ESPECIALLY OVER THE PLAINS. THE CAPE IS WIDESPREAD AGAIN LATE DAY MONDAY...BUT VALUES ARE SOMEWHAT LOWER. THE BEST CAPE IS OVER THE HIGH MOUNTAINS LATE MONDAY. THE LAPSE RATE FIELDS SHOW PRETTY STEEP RATES BOTH AFTERNOONS. THERE IS NOT MUCH OF A CAP ANYWHERE. WILL GO WITH 10%-30% POPS BOTH AFTERNOONS...BEST OVER THE FOOTHILLS AND HIGH MOUNTAINS. FOR TEMPERATURES...SUNDAYS HIGHS ARE 2.5-4.0 C WARMER THAN SATURDAYS READINGS. MONDAYS ARE 0-1 C WARMER THAN SUNDAYS. FOR THE LATER DAYS...TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...MODELS ARE SHOWING AN UPPER TROUGH MOVING ACROSS THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. THE BOTTOM OF IT SUPPOSEDLY MOVES ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA SOMETIME BETWEEN TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MOST OF WEDNESDAY. THEY HAVE BEEN ALL OVER THE PLACE CONCERNING THIS FEATURE. WILL CHANGE LITTLE THIS UPDATE WITH SHAKY CONFIDENCE IN MIND. && .AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS THRU TONIGHT. AN ISOLD TSTM COULD AFFECT THE AIRPORTS IN THE 22Z-02Z TIMEFRAME WHICH COULD BRIEFLY PRODUCE MFVR CONDITIONS DUE TO HEAVY RAIN. WINDS WILL BE SE FROM LATE MORNING THRU THE AFTN HOURS WITH SPEEDS IN THE 10 TO 20 MPH RANGE AND THEN BECOME SLY AFT 00Z. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. RPK/RJK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1047 AM MDT SAT AUG 23 2008 COZ030>051-241200- 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- 1047 AM MDT SAT AUG 23 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT MOISTURE OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA HAS INCREASED SINCE YESTERDAY AND THIS WILL COMBINE WITH DAYTIME HEATING TO CREATE SOME THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. AT THIS TIME IT APPEARS THAT THE MOST LIKELY AREAS TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY WILL BE THE MOUNTAINS...AND THE FOOTHILLS AND THE FRONT RANGE URBAN CORRIDOR ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70. THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE PALMER DIVIDE ARE ALSO SUSCEPTIBLE TO THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MANY OF THE PLAINS AREAS NORTH AND EAST OF DENVER WILL PROBABLY BE TOO STABLE FOR MUCH CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY TODAY. THE MAIN THREAT FROM MOST OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE HEAVY RAIN AND SMALL HAIL. AN ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER IS POSSIBLE IN AND NEAR THE FOOTHILLS AND OVER PARK COUNTY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THERE WILL MAINLY BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LATE DAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE FORECAST AREA. THE NEXT POTENTIAL SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS COLORADO BY MIDWEEK. AS A RESULT...COOLER TEMPERATURES AND A BETTER CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON WEDNESDAY. DRIER AND MORE STABLE CONDITIONS WILL RETURN BY THE END OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. ET/FMC
The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:58 UTC.
2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A waterspout transitioned to a landspout and caused damage to several recreational vehicles. Several peopled suffered minor injuries from flying debris.
A landspout tornado developed and caused extensive tree damage. One man was injured when he tried to escape the falling trees in his ATV. One of the trees fell on him and broke two vertebrae in his back.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Colorado, 2008Warnings in Colorado, August 2008
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: 122884, 122885.