A microburst uprooted 30 to 40 large trees across a 12-block area of the Park Hill neighborhood in east central Denver. Several trees were snapped near the base along with numerous branches, 8 to 10 inches in diameter.
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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.
A microburst uprooted 30 to 40 large trees across a 12-block area of the Park Hill neighborhood in east central Denver. Several trees were snapped near the base along with numerous branches, 8 to 10 inches in diameter. Power poles and lines were also downed with resulted in outages which affected 700 hundred residents. One of the downed trees crushed a car's hood, narrowly missing the driver.
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 15, 1:34 PM MST, 4 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO 234 PM MDT THU AUG 15 2013 .SHORT TERM...EXPECT A QUICK DECREASE IN THE DIURNAL CONVECTION OVER MOST OF OUR AREA THIS EVENING. IN THE NORTHEAST CORNER...MOISTURE HANGING IN THERE BUT WINDS AT AKRON SHIFTING MORE SOUTHERLY. HINTS THAT BOTH THE UPPER LEVEL FORCING AND THE SURFACE MOISTURE BOUNDARY WILL BE SHIFTING EAST OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. STILL EXPECT SOME REDEVELOPMENT AS THE AIR WARMS...BUT LOOKING LIKE THE SEVERE THREAT IS NOT GREAT. THIS AREA WILL ALSO BE DRYING AND STABILIZING IN THE EARLY EVENING. ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO THE EARLIER FORECAST WITH ADDITIONAL DRYING AND WARMING ON FRIDAY. DIURNAL CONVECTION OVER THE MOUNTAINS... MAINLY CLOUDS WITH A FEW WEAK SHOWERS. .LONG TERM...NO SIGNIFICANT ADJUSTMENTS IN THE LONG TERM. THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL REMAIN OVER COLORADO THROUGH THE WEEKEND. NOT MUCH ON SATURDAY WITH A DRY...SUBSIDENT AND NORTHERLY FLOW OVER THE CWFA. BEST POTENTIAL WL BE FOR ISOLD COVERAGE OVER THE MTNS. ON SUNDAY...THE RIDGE AXIS SHIFT TO THE EAST AND SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE IS PROGGED TO GRADUALLY ADVECT INTO WRN CO. AS A RESULT...SHOULD SEE BETTER TSTM COVERAGE OVER THE MOUNTAINS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ON MONDAY...MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS THE REST OF THE CWFA. SHOULD SEE SCT TSTM COVERAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS MONDAY WITH LESSER COVERAGE OVER THE NORTHEASTERN PLAINS. SHEAR MINIMAL WITH WEAK STORM MOTIONS...SO MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL THE MAIN PRODUCT OF THE STORMS. THE LATEST GFS/ECMWF KEEP THE RIDGE OVER COLORADO WITH SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE TRAPPED OVER CO ON TUESDAY AS WELL. BEST TSTM COVERAGE BY MID WEEK WILL BE OVER THE MTNS. UPPER TROUGH GETS CLOSED OFF THE CA COAST ON MONDAY MAY FINALLY OPEN UP AND SLIP ACROSS COLORADO BY WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY BUT THOSE DETAILS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. WL NOT GO WITH MORE THAN SLGT CHC POPS FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES NEAR NORMAL FOR THE MOST PART THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .AVIATION...VFR THROUGH FRIDAY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH LITTLE IMPACT EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON...PROBABLY EVEN LESS CONVECTION ON FRIDAY. && .HYDROLOGY...NO CONCERNS. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...GIMMESTAD LONG TERM....COOPER AVIATION...GIMMESTAD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO 1108 AM MDT THU AUG 15 2013 COZ030>051-161715- 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- 1108 AM MDT THU AUG 15 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE FAR NORTHEAST CORNER OF COLORADO TODAY. A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE EAST OF A STERLING TO AKRON LINE. HAIL TO THE SIZE OF GOLF BALLS AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE. ELSEWHERE ONLY ISOLATED HIGHER BASED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED WHICH MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS AND LIGHT RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AS AN UPPER RIDGE OVER COLORADO CUTS OFF THE FLOW OF SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE OVER THE REGION. MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS MAY STILL SEE A FEW AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS WHICH PRODUCE BRIEF RAINFALL AND GUSTY WINDS. SUNDAY AND MONDAY...THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE STATE WILL WEAKEN AND MID LEVEL MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO INCREASE. THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN TO THE MOUNTAINS WITH A LESSER CHANCE OVER THE PLAINS. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THE STORMS. TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR SEASONAL NORMALS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. GIMMESTAD/COOPER
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 630 PM MDT THU AUG 15 2013 COZ040-160100- NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES/EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY- 630 PM MDT THU AUG 15 2013 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR WESTERN ARAPAHOE...SOUTHWESTERN ADAMS AND SOUTHERN DENVER COUNTIES UNTIL 700 PM MDT. AT 629 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER WESTERN AURORA...OR 9 MILES EAST OF DENVER...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH. WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO... DENVER...AURORA...NORTHEASTERN CENTENNIAL...GREENWOOD VILLAGE... BUCKLEY AFB AND ARAPAHOE PARK. LAT...LON 3978 10497 3981 10478 3968 10458 3957 10485 TIME...MOT...LOC 0029Z 309DEG 31KT 3971 10479 ENTREKIN
The Denver radar (KFTG), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:44 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A microburst downed numerous trees and power outages in in east central Denver.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, August 2013
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: 460602.