Flash Flood — Rio Blanco, Colorado

2025-08-24 · near Rio Blanco, Rio Blanco, Colorado

Event narrative

This incident was reported to NWS Grand Junction by the NWS Incident Meteorologist deployed to the Lee Wildfire. Water was reported as flowing over Highway 13 adjacent to the Lee Burn Scar, near the incident on County Road 5, and south of the town of Meeker. All of this water drains into the White River, and the gage on the White River below Meeker spiked from roughly 110 cfs to 1660 cfs, with a rise in water height of 3 feet.

Wider weather episode

A plume of anomalously rich monsoonal moisture pushed into eastern Utah and western Colorado in the days prior to these debris flows. On the day of the flows, precipitable water values were in excess of 1.00 inch across the region. Daytime heating acting on the complex terrain of the region allowed for the formation of thunderstorms during the afternoon. These storms were capable of producing heavy rainfall with very high rain rates. Over the course of the day, multiple of these storms moved over the recent Lee and Elk RBX burn scars in Rio Blanco county, triggering multiple debris flows.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.7579, -107.9636)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1291256. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.