Thunderstorm Wind — Rio Blanco, Colorado

2024-07-19 · near Meeker Arpt, Rio Blanco, Colorado

Event narrative

A round of showers and thunderstorms tracked across central Rio Blanco county, producing wind gusts ranging from 45 to 60 mph. The peak recorded gust was 58 mph, and this was recorded at KEEO ASOS, located at Meeker Airport. No reports of damages or injuries were received.

Wider weather episode

A weak shortwave in the flow around the dominant high pressure moved across eastern Utah and western Colorado on the 19th. This wave provided some enhanced instability and lift to the already modest instability and lift, as well as residual moisture, leading to a round of widespread showers and thunderstorms. However, with modest parameters and very dry surface layers, evidenced by inverted-V soundings, storms that did form were most favored to produce virga and strong, gusty winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.0500, -107.8800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1206713. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.