Lightning struck a school in Yampa.
Every event with a place to put it. 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.
Lightning struck a school in Yampa.
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 3, 2:16 AM MST, 8 hours 49 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 316 AM MDT WED JUN 3 2009 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT... UPPER LEVEL RIDGING WILL REMAIN PARKED OVER THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH THURSDAY WITH LOW PRESSURE HUNKERED DOWN ALONG THE OFF THE WEST COAST. THIS WILL ALLOW SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR TO FILTER INTO THE REGION FROM THE SOUTHWEST...WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES DROPPING TO UNDER A HALF INCH BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...WEAK PIECES OF ENERGY WILL CONTINUE TO KICK OUT FROM THE UPPER LEVEL LOW AND RIDE UP AND OVER THE RIDGE. THE NAM-12 APPEARS TO HAVE A DECENT HANDLE ON THIS SCENARIO AND WILL BE LEANING TOWARD THIS WETTER SOLUTION. AS A RESULT...WILL CONTINUE WITH SCATTERED DIURNALLY DRIVEN CONVECTION THROUGH THURSDAY...ALTHOUGH COVERAGE OF STORMS WILL BE DROPPING TO THE LOWER END OF SCATTERED BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON. WINDS WILL BE PICKING UP THROUGH THE PERIOD...WITH LOCALLY BREEZY CONDITIONS EXPECTED BY THURSDAY NIGHT AS THE UPPER LEVEL LOW KICKS ONSHORE AND HEADS SLOWLY EAST INTO THE GREAT BASIN. DEEP MIXING AS A RESULT OF WARMER SFC TEMPS ON THURSDAY WILL DRIVE DOWN GUSTS INTO THE 30 TO 40 MPH RANGE BY LATE IN THE DAY. ADD IN THE CONVECTION...AND A FEW SEVERE GUSTS WILL BE POSSIBLE. AS FOR CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON... EXPECT FAIRLY SLOW MOVING STORMS ONCE AGAIN WITH THE RIDGE AXIS OVERHEAD. HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY OUTFLOW WINDS TO 40 MPH WILL OCCUR WITH THE STRONGER CELLS. TEMPS START A GRADUAL CLIMB TO ABOVE NORMAL OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS WITH DRIER AIR FILTERING IN AND LESS CLOUD COVER EXPECTED. .LONG TERM...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY... MODEL SOLUTIONS FOR EJECTING THE WEST COAST LOW HAVE COME INTO BETTER AGREEMENT OVER THE LAST COUPLE RUNS. THE MAIN LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE GREAT BASIN ON FRIDAY...WITH A SHORTWAVE EJECTING TO THE NORTHEAST. THEN THE SYSTEM TENDS TO SPLIT AS MORE ENERGY FROM THE LOW MOVES INTO THE NORTHERN STREAM ON SATURDAY...LEAVING A LOW PRESSURE LOBE TO RETROGRADE INTO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST. BEGINNING EARLY NEXT WEEK...A SERIES OF WAVES IN THE NORTHERN FLOW WILL BRUSH THE FORECAST AREA AS A ZONAL PATTERN DEVELOPS. IN SPITE OF THE BETTER CONSISTENCY CONCERNING THE LARGER SCALE PATTERN...THE TIMING AND RESOLUTION REMAIN SOMEWHAT PROBLEMATIC FOR THE SMALLER WAVES. AND... EXCEPT FOR DAYTIME HEATING AND OF COURSE THE TERRAIN...THESE ARE THE FEATURES THAT WILL LARGELY DRIVE OUR WEATHER. THEREFORE WILL STAY WITH A FAIRLY GENERIC FORECAST OF ISOLATED TO SCATTERED LATE DAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND NORTH. BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .AVIATION... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...NUMEROUS OVER SOME MOUNTAIN AREAS...WILL CONTINUE OVER THE REGION THROUGH THURSDAY. AREAS OF MVFR CIGS AND VSBY LIKELY IN HEAVIER SHOWERS. SMALL HAIL WITH SOME THUNDERSTORMS CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DECREASE LATER THIS EVENING...BUT REDEVELOP AGAIN ON THURSDAY. && .HYDROLOGY... WHILE RUNOFF FROM SNOWMELT WILL BE DECREASING...A PERSISTENT SUBTROPICAL FLOW OF MOISTURE WILL RESULT IN PRECIPITATION... ESPECIALLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS...INTO THE FIRST HALF OF THIS WEEK. THIS PRECIPITATION WILL HELP TO SUSTAIN HIGH RIVER AND STREAM FLOWS AND MAY EVEN CAUSE SOME MINOR RISES IN WATER LEVELS. MOST RIVERS AND STREAMS ARE WITHIN THEIR BANKS. HOWEVER...THE EAGLE RIVER IS CURRENTLY AT BANKFULL AND IS RESULTING IN SOME MINOR FLOODING OF AGRICULTURAL LAND. A FLOOD ADVISORY CONTINUES FOR THE EAGLE RIVER NEAR GYPSUM TO ALERT PEOPLE OF HIGH FLOWS. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...FLOOD ADVISORY EAGLE RIVER AT GYPSUM THROUGH MIDDAY WEDNESDAY. .UT...NONE. SHORT TERM.....JDC LONG TERM......JAD/EH AVIATION.......TGJT HYDROLOGY......BAL
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 545 AM MDT WED JUN 3 2009 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-041145- 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 WED JUN 3 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING HOURS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL...AND GUSTY WINDS TO 40 MPH ARE POSSIBLE FROM THE STRONGER STORMS. RIVERS AND STREAMS ACROSS WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH WILL CONTINUE TO RUN HIGH FROM SNOW MELT AND RAINFALL. FOR MORE INFORMATION...PLEASE VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV/GJT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING THROUGH MONDAY. THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE HAIL...GUSTY WINDS TO 40 MPH AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. HOWEVER... REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT WEATHER SENT TO THE GRAND JUNCTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE WILL BE APPRECIATED. TGJT
The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 165 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:04 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the South Routt Elementary School and started the building on fire. The fire and related damage were confined to the gymnasium.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, June 2009
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: 180860.