Thunderstorms with rainfall rates of over an inch per hour moved through the Dove Creek area.
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.
Thunderstorms with rainfall rates of over an inch per hour moved through the Dove Creek area.
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 5, 1:19 PM MST, 1 hour 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 219 PM MDT SUN AUG 5 2012 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 218 PM MDT SUN AUG 5 2012 TODAY/S PATTERN FEATURED LOW PRESSURE OFF THE WEST COAST AND HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED OVER NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. FLOW THROUGH THIS PATTERN HAS ALLOWED TROPICAL MOISTURE TO MOVE NORTHWARD ACROSS ARIZONA...THEN EAST-NORTHEASTWARD OVER SOUTHERN COLORADO. CONCURRENTLY...STRETCHING DEFORMATION OVER NORTHEAST UTAH HAS TAPPED INTO SOME OF THE MONSOON MOISTURE AS WELL. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN IN RESPONSE TO THE MOISTURE FLUX AND DAYTIME HEATING. AS MENTIONED IN THE PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...STORMS WILL INITIALLY HAVE HIGH BASES FAVORING STRONG OUTFLOW WINDS. HOWEVER...MOISTURE WILL WORK DOWNWARD DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE AFTERNOON INCREASING THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN. DIURNAL COOLING WILL BRING A DOWNTURN IN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THIS EVENING. HOWEVER...MODELS INDICATED A SHORTWAVE CENTERED OVER CENTRAL ARIZONA WILL CONTINUE NORTH ACROSS SOUTHEAST UTAH...THEN EASTWARD ACROSS WESTERN COLORADO MONDAY MORNING. GFS AND NAM DIFFERED IN TIMING...BUT SEEMED REASONABLE TO KEEP PRECIPITATION CHANCES GOING THROUGH THE NIGHT AND INTO MIDDAY MONDAY. ACCORDING TO NAM AND ECMWF-HIRES...THE SHORTWAVE WILL PASS OVER WESTERN COLORADO DURING PEAK HEATING MONDAY AFTERNOON BRINGING BETTER PRECIPITATION CHANCES TO THE REGION THAN OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS. A DRYING TREND BEGINS MONDAY NIGHT AS THE HIGH PRESSURE SHIFTS WESTWARD...CENTERING UP OVER NORTHWEST ARIZONA BY SUNRISE TUESDAY. WITH THE SHORTWAVE EAST OF THE DIVIDE BY EARLY EVENING...EXPECT DIURNAL COOLING WILL BRING AN END TO SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS BY...OR SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT AS A DRYER NORTHWEST FLOW DEVELOPS. LOW TEMPERATURES WILL BE A BIT WARMER TONIGHT IN RESPONSE TO INCREASED CLOUDS AND MOISTURE. IN CONTRAST...THE MONSOONAL SURGE WILL HAVE THE OPPOSITE AFFECT ON MONDAY/S HIGHS RESULTING IN AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES NEAR NORMAL. LOWS WILL TREND SLIGHTLY DOWNWARD MONDAY NIGHT AS FLOW SHIFTS TO THE NORTHWEST BRINGING THE ONSET OF DRYING TREND. .LONG TERM...(TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY) ISSUED AT 218 PM MDT SUN AUG 5 2012 AIRMASS DRIES TUE AND WED AS THE UPPER RIDGE RE-CENTERS FROM THE DESERT SW TO THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND NORTHERLY FLOW EFFECTIVELY SEVERS THE MONSOON TAP FOR OUR FORECAST AREA. SHORTWAVES ROTATE AROUND/OVER THE RIDGE AND EVENTUALLY FLATTENING IT SOMEWHAT LATE IN THE WEEK. GFS SHOWS A GRADUAL ACCUMULATION OF MOISTURE UNDER THE RIDGE WITH TIME...WHICH SHOULD GET RECYCLED IN AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ABOUT EACH DAY THOUGH THE MAJORITY OF LOCATIONS ARE LIKELY TO REMAIN DRY AS COVERAGE STAYS SCATTERED OR LESS. WITH FLOW RELATIVELY WEAK IN GENERAL...THESE STORMS WILL REMAIN TIED TO THE MOUNTAINS UNTIL DRIFTING OFF OVER THE ADJACENT VALLEYS LATE IN THE DAY. TEMPERATURE WILL AVERAGE ABOVE NORMAL. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY EVENING) ISSUED AT 218 PM MDT SUN AUG 5 2012 SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN PRIMARILY SOUTHWEST OF A 30N KVEL-KLXV LINE AS MONSOON MOISTURE CONTINUES TO MOVE OVER THE REGION. AS A RESULT... EXPECT AREAS OF MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS THOUGH MOST AREA AIRPORTS FACE ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF EXPERIENCING FLIGHT CATEGORIES LESS THAN VFR. CHANCES ARE BETTER (30 TO 40 PERCENT) FOR AIRPORTS IN THE FOUR CORNERS REGION INCLUDING K4BL...KCEZ...KDRO... AND KPSO. KTEX AND KMTJ FACE SIMILAR CHANCES. OUTFLOW FROM THESE STORMS WILL GENERATE WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH. SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL DECREASE AFTER SUNSET WITH A FEW SHOWERS LINGERING THROUGH SUNRISE MONDAY. A WEAK DISTURBANCE WILL GET SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS GOING BEFORE NOON MONDAY. THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY DURING THE AFTERNOON WITH AREAS OF MVFR CIGS AND/OR VSBY IN HEAVY RAIN HINDERING FLIGHT CONDITIONS. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...NONE. UT...NONE. && SHORT TERM...NL LONG TERM...JAD AVIATION...NL
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
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
A rainfall total of 1.30 inches fell in less than an hour near Dove Creek. No significant flooding was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, August 2012
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: 479526.