Lightning struck and killed one person and injured another at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
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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 GJT wrote it up.
Lightning struck and killed one person and injured another at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
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 Jul 22, 10:45 AM MST, 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 1145 AM MDT FRI JUL 22 2016 Updated aviation section .SHORT TERM...(Today through Saturday) Issued at 326 AM MDT Fri Jul 22 2016 The arrival of low pressure to the left coast of central NOAM will signal a change in the pattern across the west beginning today. PWAT on the sounding was near 1.2 inches which put us in record territory for the latter half of July. Ground based measurements show this has dropped off to just over an inch this morning...still sufficient for another round of heavy rain producing thunderstorms today. Embedded waves are quite hard to pick out this time of morning with the more apparent lift over the far desert SW and over the panhandle of UT where large scale ascent from upper jet support exists. There is an apparent wave laying across the 4 Corners region which is firing some nocturnal isolated storms. This feature will elongate over our southern cwa this afternoon and most likely lead to the better storm coverage. Farther north it appears storms may be more rooted to the terrain except in the far northwest where storms will have some upper support from the jet mentioned above. Corfidi vectors and mid level wind/wind diffluence suggest slow moving and possibly backward propagating storms again in southeast Utah and southwest Colorado. Localized flash flooding is possible but again not confident again this morning for widespread problems to warrant issuance of a watch. The westerly flow aloft will be pushing the main monsoonal plume to the east and models suggest PWAT will be cut nearly in half by tomorrow as drier air moves in. Storms should be orographically based and favor the eastern mountains. Temperatures should top out near normal today and begin an upward trend tomorrow. .LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 326 AM MDT Fri Jul 22 2016 The Pacific NW upper Low ejects through the northern Rockies while the subtropical High also expands across the southern tier of states into the SE Pacific. The flow across the north veers to dry west. The latest forecasted afternoon winds do not reach critical fire weather criteria. For the southern forecast area marginal moisture lingers for isolated to scattered late-day storms favoring the Abajo and San Juan Mountains. Daytime temperatures will be 5-10 degrees above normal across the north and central zones, 0-5 degrees above across the south. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Saturday afternoon) Issued at 1145 AM MDT Fri Jul 22 2016 Thunderstorm activity has begun to initiate over the San Juans, Grand Mesa, La Sal Mtns, and the Uncompahgre Plateau. Expecting activity to continue and expand through the afternoon in these areas. KTEX and KASE remain the highest at threat for thunderstorms to reach within 5nm. There is potential for reduction of visibility due to stronger storms but have left out of TAFs for now. Drier air will move in this evening, allowing for clearing to occur around sunset tonight. && .GJT Watches/Warnings/Advisories... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...15 LONG TERM...JOE AVIATION...JAM
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 625 AM MDT FRI JUL 22 2016 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-230030- LOWER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-CENTRAL YAMPA RIVER BASIN- ROAN AND TAVAPUTS PLATEAUS-ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS- UPPER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-GRAND VALLEY-DEBEQUE TO SILT CORRIDOR- CENTRAL COLORADO RIVER BASIN-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS- GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAIN VALLEYS- CENTRAL GUNNISON AND UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN- WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS-FLAT TOPS- UPPER GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY-UNCOMPAHGRE PLATEAU AND DALLAS DIVIDE- NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS- PARADOX VALLEY/LOWER DOLORES RIVER- FOUR CORNERS/UPPER DOLORES RIVER-ANIMAS RIVER BASIN- SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN-SOUTHEAST UTAH-EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- EASTERN UINTA BASIN-TAVAPUTS PLATEAU-ARCHES/GRAND FLAT- LA SAL AND ABAJO MOUNTAINS-CANYONLANDS/NATURAL BRIDGES- 625 AM MDT FRI JUL 22 2016 CORRECTED FOR DUPLICATE WORD THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...MAXIMIZED IN COVERAGE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF STORMS COMBINED WITH HEAVY RAINFALL COULD LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING WITH NORMALLY DRY WASHES FILLING WITH WATER. DRIVING CONDITIONS COULD ALSO BE IMPACTED UNDER AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN WITH REDUCED VISIBILITY AND HEAVY RUNOFF AND PONDING OF WATER ON THE ROADWAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY A SHIFT IN THE PATTERN WILL PUSH THE MAIN PLUME OF MONSOON MOISTURE EAST ON LATE THIS EVENING. THIS WILL SIGNAL A GRADUAL DOWNTURN IN THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE WEEKEND WITH MUCH DRIER CONDITIONS AND WARMING EXPECTED BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TO MONITOR LOCALIZED FLOODING OR RELAY RAINFALL REPORTS.
The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 238 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 14-year-old girl was killed and her 49-year-old stepmother was critically injured when struck by lightning while riding a jet ski in the Hideout Canyon area of Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Daggett | 2016-07-22 | 14 | Female | Boating | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, July 2016
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: 649849.