A lightning strike ignited a wildfire on Buttermilk Ridge in the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area.
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The episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.
A lightning strike ignited a wildfire on Buttermilk Ridge in the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation 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 Jul 23, 2:44 AM MST, 6 hours 16 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 344 AM MDT Mon Jul 23 2018 .SHORT TERM...(Today through Tuesday) Issued at 338 AM MDT Mon Jul 23 2018 The center of a broad ridge that covers much of the western U.S. will continue to slide west through New Mexico today and into Arizona Tuesday. This pattern will force monsoon moisture to take a long curving path through the Great Basin then along the northern periphery of the ridge across northern UT and CO while combining with moisture rotating within the ridge. This morning a weak short wave trough riding over the top of that ridge will continue to produce showers and few thunderstorms over northwest CO. These will clear the area before noon. Tuesday winds aloft will become more northwesterly and the models all show weak shortwaves riding over the forecast area and providing focus for storm development. Right now it appears central UT and CO will see the higher areal coverage. .LONG TERM...(Tuesday night through Sunday) Issued at 338 AM MDT Mon Jul 23 2018 Looking at the accumulated precipitation maps from midweek into the weekend there isn't really any great news. Most of the precipitation is centered over the hills with the valleys on the very low end of the scale. This would indicate no good push of moisture and especially not any good mechanisms passing through to help release instability other than the typical mountain/valley circulations. PWAT plots also generally show a decreasing trend during this time as well with a prolonged period of northwest flow in place due to the subtropical high placement well to our West. That's not to say some of the valleys won't see some precipitation as outflow boundary interaction should remain active through this period. Again expect temperatures to continue to run above normal in this pattern and due to the prolonged drought conditions. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Tuesday morning) Issued at 338 AM MDT Mon Jul 23 2018 VFR conditions will dominate the forecast over the next 24 hours. Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will move across northwest CO this morning, with KHDN being impacted by gusty outflow winds until about 15Z. Isolated thunderstorms will develop again over the mountains this afternoon and evening. KEGE, KASE and KTEX have a slight chance of impacts from these storms, mainly brief heavy rain and gusty outflow winds. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...CC LONG TERM...15 AVIATION...CC
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 303 AM MDT Mon Jul 23 2018 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-240915- 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- 303 AM MDT Mon Jul 23 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...Tuesday through Sunday A slight chance of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms continues each day, decreasing Thursday through Sunday. .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 Buttermilk Fire began due to lightning ignition on Buttermilk Ridge in the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area and grew to 748 acres before it was contained in mid 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: 780904.