A lightning strike ignited a wildfire about 16 miles northwest of Meeker.
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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.
A lightning strike ignited a wildfire about 16 miles northwest of Meeker.
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 20, 10:49 AM MST, 2 hours 41 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 1149 AM MDT Fri Jul 20 2018 .SHORT TERM...(Today through Saturday) Issued at 253 AM MDT Fri Jul 20 2018 The fickle nature of this year's manifestation of the North American Monsoon season will continue into this weekend. As the monsoon has affected the area for the last two weeks or so, the optimal flow of moisture has mostly eluded the forecast area. Another example will occur into this weekend. On Friday and Saturday another surge, more like a spurt, in the monsoon flow will affect the area, with the main focus being over southwest CO and southeast UT Friday. High pressure becomes centered over TX which will help steer the monsoonal plume over the area but the moisture and precipitation pattern don't appear all that organized. A weak shortwave trough will ride around the west and northwest periphery of the high Friday but doesn't seem to provide much of a focus for convection in any of the shorter range models. On Saturday the plume seems to ride further north over eastern UT before turning east of central and northwest CO. This places the main plume axis north of the San Juan mountains and southwest Colorado. The models suggestion showers and thunderstorms developing initially over the mountains, including the San Juans then the focus of the best activity shifts north late Saturday afternoon and into the evening. .LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 253 AM MDT Fri Jul 20 2018 Ridge of high pressure will remain to the east of the area with a slightly more direct southerly tap of monsoonal moisture through Monday. Embedded shortwave disturbances will rotate around the periphery of the high pressure Saturday night through Monday, allowing for better coverage of showers and thunderstorms impacting mountains during the afternoon and spreading into valleys late afternoon and evening. Precipitable Water (PW) values will remain above an inch for most areas, which means better chances for heavy rain to occur with the storms. When embedded shortwaves move through the flow and interact with the moisture in place, this typically means that the potential for nocturnal storms increases. Daytime temperatures will still be warm, but slightly cooler with the increased cloud cover and shower/storm activity, with nighttime lows remaining fairly warm. Tuesday through Thursday appears to be a wild card of sorts in terms of how much moisture is going to hang around. During this period, the high pressure will be shifting back westward, bringing more of a westerly to northwesterly flow across our area. This pattern will slowly advect drier air in from the northwest as PW values lower each day. However, it appears that enough moisture hangs around with PW values above 0.75 inches for storms to form each afternoon, starting first over the higher terrain and then drifting into some valleys by late afternoon/early evening. Expecting storms to favor the afternoon and evening periods with temperatures also rebounding towards very warm to hot by mid to late week. Models are indicating some shortwaves rotating around the periphery of the high and down through the northern Rockies and Front Range but timing these waves is a bit problematic. Regardless of the timing, enough moisture hangs around with occasional disturbances to help keep the potential for storms in the forecast each day through the week, with less coverage than is expected this weekend through Monday. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Saturday afternoon) Issued at 1140 AM MDT Fri Jul 20 2018 Clouds will be increasing across southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah this afternoon as moisture streams into the region around a high pressure to the southeast. There will be scattered showers and thunderstorms across the southern Colorado mountains this afternoon, although VFR conditions should prevail at all sites. The threat of showers and thunderstorms will spread across more of western Colorado tomorrow afternoon. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...CC LONG TERM...MDA AVIATION...MMS/JPF
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 218 AM MDT Fri Jul 20 2018 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-210830- 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- 218 AM MDT Fri Jul 20 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for eastern Utah and western Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Showers and thunderstorms will increase a bit Friday and Friday night across eastern Utah and western Colorado. The chance of lightning and locally heavy downpours will increase incrementally. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday Moisture from the south will continue increasing Saturday and Sunday with higher coverage of showers and thunderstorms across the area. There will be a better chance of locally heavy downpours Flash Flooding may affect sensitive drainage basins near recent fires and burn scars. A chance of showers and thunderstorms with locally heavy rain will continue Monday through Thursday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Indian Valley Fire began due to lightning ignition about 16 miles northwest of Meeker and grew to approximately 6,310 acres before it was contained in mid August.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, July 2018
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: 766240.