Early morning thunderstorms over Southwest Colorado produced frequent cloud to ground lightning.
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.
Early morning thunderstorms over Southwest Colorado produced frequent cloud to ground lightning.
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 Aug 19, 3:28 AM MST, 42 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 428 AM MDT THU AUG 19 2010 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT... DEEP SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE CONTINUES TO STREAM OVER THE REGION THIS MORNING AND WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGHOUT THE DAY. MORNING CONVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH WEAK WAVE LIFTING NORTHEAST ACROSS WESTERN COLORADO WILL GRADUALLY COME TO AN END. HOWEVER...SECOND ROUND OF CONVECTION ROLLS IN BY LATE MORNING AS STRONGER WAVE OVER SOUTHERN UTAH EJECTS NORTHEAST AS KICKING PACIFIC TROUGH MOVES INTO THE GREAT BASIN. THIS WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF STRONG HEAVY RAIN PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS TO THE SOUTHERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE FORECAST AREA. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES EXPECTED TO CLIMB TO NEAR 1.5 INCHES TODAY AND MANY AREAS ACROSS EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO REMAIN SATURATED FROM HEAVY RAINS OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS. WITH ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL LIKELY...WILL GO AHEAD AND ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH 9 PM THIS EVENING. THE PACIFIC TROUGH ROLLS THROUGH OVERNIGHT...WITH DRY AND STABLE CONDITIONS SWEEPING IN FROM THE WEST FOR FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. HAVE BUMPED POPS UP FOR TODAY AND THIS EVENING...THEN CUT VALUES BACK QUITE A BIT FOR FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT WITH ONLY ISOLATED DIVIDE CONVECTION EXPECTED. TEMPERATURES WILL BE COOLER TODAY DUE TO CLOUD COVER AND CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY MOVING THROUGH. DRY CONDITIONS ON FRIDAY AND LESS CLOUD COVER WILL RESULT IN A QUICK WARM-UP WITH READINGS REBOUNDING TO MORE SEASONAL NORMS. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... MODELS CONTINUE HAVE FAIRLY GOOD CONSISTENCY THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO THE FIRST PORTION OF NEXT WEEK. UPPER RIDGE AXIS AMPLIFIES AND SHIFTS EAST IN RESPONSE TO A PAC TROUGH MOVING INLAND. MOISTURE WILL INCREASE UNDER SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND RAINFALL INTENSITY EACH DAY THROUGH MONDAY. INCREASED POPS SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY AS NOCTURNAL PRECIPITATION IS INDICATED WITH ABUNDANT MOISTURE AND UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT FROM THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE TROUGH. THE TROUGH WILL TRACK OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES MONDAY ALTHOUGH ADDITIONAL SHORTWAVES MOVE AROUND THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE HIGH AND OVER THE CWA. WILL START TO DRY THE FORECAST MONDAY NIGHT WITH LINGERING PRECIPITATION OVER THE MOUNTAINS ESPECIALLY SOUTH AND SOUTH CENTRAL AS MOISTURE LINGERS. THE RIDGE SLIDES SLIGHTLY WEST AND ALLOWS ADDITIONAL MOISTURE TO PUSH UNDERNEATH. WILL KEEP CURRENT FORECAST TREND WITH AFTERNOON AND EVENING STORMS THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK. && .AVIATION... WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR ACROSS EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO THROUGH THIS EVENING. EXPECT AREAS OF MVFR TO IFR CONDS IN HEAVY RAIN FROM PASSING THUNDERSTORMS. DRIER AIR ARRIVES LATE TONIGHT...WITH VFR CONDITIONS ANTICIPATED ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA BY MIDDAY FRIDAY. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...NONE. UT...NONE. SHORT TERM.....JDC LONG TERM......AS AVIATION.......JDC
The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 191 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:09 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Electricity was lost to around 234 consumers when a pole was ignited by a lightning strike that occurred on the western edge of Mancos.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, August 2010
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: 353305.