A lightning strike ignited a wildfire about 13 miles north of Dolores.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
A lightning strike ignited a wildfire about 13 miles north of Dolores.
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, 10:39 AM MST, 3 hours 21 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 1139 AM MDT Sun Jul 22 2018 .SHORT TERM...(Today through Monday) Issued at 405 AM MDT Sun Jul 22 2018 Today starts out with a 500 mb high centered over west Texas and eastern New Mexico and a weak monsoonal plume of moisture curving north through central AZ then turning NE through eastern UT and western CO. Nocturnal showers moved across much of the forecast area overnight. A shortwave trough moving across NE UT and NW CO is providing some focus for the most widespread showers over NW CO this morning. Portions of the San Juan mountains and the 416 burn scar received up to a tenth of an inch of rain early this morning. As the high center shifts a bit west today, the main focus for showers should remain over northern UT and CO associated with better dynamics from the passing shortwave. The rest of the area should see a slight increase in coverage of storms but still as much as we'd like to see during monsoon season. This somewhat favorable pressure pattern for better monsoon rain over the forecast area breaks down all too quickly Monday. The upper high center slides west to the AZ and NM border by the end of the day and that will force the monsoon flow to the west, over western AZ and NV. Contributing to this will be deepening low pressure east of the Continental Divide as a trough plunge south through the plains states. This will increase storms over and east of the Continental Divide. .LONG TERM...(Monday night through Saturday) Issued at 405 AM MDT Sun Jul 22 2018 The subtropical ridge retrograding west of the Southern Divide takes place by Tuesday and settles back over the Southwest through out the week. Confidence fairly high on this scenario attm as med range models in tight agreement...especially with the carving out of another Upper Great MidWest trough. This will help suppress the high circulation back to our Southwest and actually dig the upper jet across the Northern Rockies to the Ohio Valley. We will remain in the ring a fire for this period which means moisture will continue to feed in from the West where much of it has pooled thanks to the low in the E.Pac. This indirect moisture and strong afternoon heating should lead to enough instability for the typical afternoon showers and thunderstorms but again feel wind will be more of a threat than excess rainfall. Models have been overdoing low level moisture and maximum temperatures and think this has much to do with extreme drought conditions in place. Models are keying in on Wednesday night into Thursday for a bigger day. This is due to the direct circulation of the upper jet passing through Wyoming in Northwest flow. This location of is often an active area for thunderstorms both during the day and nocturnally. One caveat is plenty of model convective feedback arises from this as well. Confidence is well below normal in the later periods for forecasting where better precipitation chances will be. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Monday afternoon) Issued at 1132 AM MDT Sun Jul 22 2018 Convection has just started firing at this hour and will continue into the afternoon and evening hours. Most TAF sites will remain VFR though VCTS is possible at KASE, KTEX, and KGUC. Like yesterday, expect some gusty outflow winds from any showers and storms that form. Most convection will die down after 03Z though a few lingering showers and maybe a storm are possible for the overnight hours. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...CC LONG TERM...15 AVIATION...TGR
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 339 AM MDT Sun Jul 22 2018 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-230945- 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- 339 AM MDT Sun Jul 22 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for eastern Utah and western Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop over the mountains with isolated showers and thunderstorms over the valleys. Expect a slight chance of locally heavy rain showers mainly in the northern portions of eastern Utah and western Colorado. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday A slight chance of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms continues each day. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed.
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Grand Junction CO
150 PM MDT SUN JUL 22 2018
COZ001-003-222030-
Roan and Tavaputs Plateaus CO-Lower Yampa River Basin CO-
150 PM MDT SUN JUL 22 2018
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHWESTERN RIO BLANCO COUNTY
UNTIL 230 PM MDT...
At 149 PM MDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 24
miles south of Rangely, or 49 miles northwest of Grand Junction,
moving northeast at 25 mph.
Frequent cloud to ground lightning, dime size hail and wind gusts up
to 50 mph will be possible with this storm.
This storm will remain over mainly rural areas of southwestern Rio
Blanco County.
This includes Colorado 139 between mile markers 44 and 65.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Heavy rainfall is also occurring with this storm, and may lead to
localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded
roadways.
Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.
Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe
shelter inside a building or vehicle.
&&
LAT...LON 3966 10896 3969 10903 3974 10904 4001 10877
3980 10853
TIME...MOT...LOC 1949Z 231DEG 24KT 3974 10891
MSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Plateau Fire began due to lightning ignition about 13 miles north of Dolores and grew to 19,634 acres before it was controlled in early October.
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: 778581.