Lightning — Dolores, Colorado

2017-08-13 · near Rico, Dolores, Colorado

Event narrative

Lightning struck two mountain bikers who had gotten below tree line to seek shelter. One mountain biker was killed. The other only had minor injuries and her clothes were shredded. They had been riding on a trail just above the 10,200 foot level on the East Fork Trail near the Lizard Head Wilderness Area. The mountain bikers were either under or very near a tree when struck by lightning. After being struck, the male victim was talking and conscious for about a minute, and then collapsed. CPR was administered immediately by the female victim, and then an EMT who was also mountain biking in the area came over to assist, but all efforts were unsuccessful.

Wider weather episode

A moist air mass and weak disturbance embedded in the flow resulted in the development of some intense thunderstorms over a portion of southwest Colorado before noon.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.7838, -107.9374)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 707684. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.