A lightning strike ignited a wildfire 10 miles west 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 10 miles west 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 15, 11:07 AM MST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 1207 PM MDT Wed Jul 15 2020 .SHORT TERM...(Today through Thursday) Issued at 347 AM MDT Wed Jul 15 2020 An anomalously strong system is sitting over the northern Canadian Prairies this morning. Satellite imagery is picking up on the trough axis associated with this low rotating across the Wyoming Rockies with the upstream flow turning northwest. Drier air filters into the north in the wake of the trough passage with the confluent zone bisecting our CWA near I-70. Expect some isolated storms to still fire up north but the better coverage will be over the southern mountains this afternoon. Temperatures this afternoon remain above normal and not many changes made to forecast with highs still flirting with triple digits in the lower desert valleys. The passage of the trough to the north looks to have pushed the center of the subtrop high into the Southern Plains where it looks to remain through the end of the week. To the West there is a weak trough sitting of the SoCal coast. The placement of both these features appears more favorable for pulling subtropical moisture northward into our CWA beginning late tonight. The weak subtropical jet will be nosing across the 4 Corners overnight into Thursday and looks to add just a bit more ascent into the mix for Thursday. An uptick in convection is being projected by the models on Thursday and the chance of getting rainfall to ground is looking a bit better. Moisture in the mid levels increase as well as the PBL moisture with dewpoints moving toward the mid to upper 40s. Winds will still be a threat on outflows but the mid to higher elevations could see some rainfall rates over .5"/hr. With the arrival of the moisture temperatures will be knocked back just a bit. .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Tuesday) Issued at 347 AM MDT Wed Jul 15 2020 A trough moving into the Pacific Northwest on Thursday will try and absorb the cutoff low sitting off the SoCal coast, dragging it northward. This will allow the ridge of high pressure sitting over the Southern Plains shift south and tap into some subtropical moisture, pulling it northward. Precipitable water values in this plume of moisture are forecast to be 0.75-1.00 inch, which is plenty to fire off afternoon showers and thunderstorms through the end of the week. Storm chances favor the Divide, particularly the Southern and Central Mountains. Expect the greatest threat with any storms to be gusty winds, as the lower levels of the atmosphere will still be quite dry. Any wetting rainfall that does manage to occur will be in the higher elevations. As the Pacific Northwest trough propagates to the east, the cutoff low will drift to the northwest, allowing the ridge to expand westward over the Four Corners and into the Great Basin. This will cut off the moisture plume and shunt it to the south. Although model guidance suggests that the moisture plume will try to move to the northwest around the high pressure circulation, the high will be positioned a bit too far west to allow that moisture to impact us. That's not to say there is no chance of showers or storms next week, as some moisture is forecast to remain trapped under the ridge and be recycled each afternoon. However, the coverage will be scattered to isolated at best, and with such dry lower levels, there is little chance for wetting rain. Expect mainly hot and dry conditions otherwise. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday afternoon) Issued at 1150 AM MDT Wed Jul 15 2020 Storms beginning to fire over the San Juans and Grand Mesa late this morning. Expect convection to stay isolated to scattered mainly over the central and southern mountains with VCTS more likely at KTEX and KASE. Mostly to partly sunny skies expected elsewhere with less wind than yesterday and occasional breezes to 20 kts. Any convection should wind down after sunset with very little if any expected overnight. VFR conditions prevail with CIGS in any showers/storms above ILS breakpoints. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...15 LONG TERM...BGB AVIATION...MDA
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 435 AM MDT Wed Jul 15 2020 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-161045- 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- 435 AM MDT Wed Jul 15 2020 This hazardous weather outlook is for eastern Utah and western Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Thunderstorm development will again occur this afternoon with the heating of the day...favored over the southern Colorado mountains. Gusty outflow winds will continue to be the main threat. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday Thunderstorm development can be expected each day through Tuesday with the best coverage remaining over the mountains. .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 Grassy Fire began in mid July due to lightning 10 miles west of Meeker and grew to 868 acres before it was contained a week later.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, July 2020
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: 896132.