Winter Storm in Colorado, April 22, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in Colorado, April 22, 2001
Start: 2001-04-22T09:00
End: 2001-04-22T15:00
Location: Colorado

April 22, 2001 · NWS BOU · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

5 winter storm, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 22, 2:39 AM MST, 6 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 22, 2:39 AM MST, 6 hours 21 minutes before

NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
339 AM MDT SUN APR 22 2001

SHORT TERM DISCUSSION...STG STORM CONTG TO TAKE SHAPE OVR SERN CO
THIS MRNG.  ALTHO THERE WL BE A BRIEF RESPITE FM THE SNOW ACRS THE
METRO DURG THE ELY MRNG HRS...SNOW WL RESUME BY SUNRISE AS DP SFC
LOW DVLPS OVR SERN CO.  ATTM...A DRY SLOT HAS WORKED INTO ERN PLAINS
AND MOST OF THE FNT RANGE...AND MUCH OF THE PRECIP IN THESE AREAS
HAS TEMPORARILY CEASED.  THIS DRY SLOT IS POSING A REAL CONUNDRUM
FOR THE EASTERN PLAINS FCST...BUT AM BETTING AS THE SFC LOW DVLPS...
A FRONTOGENETIC AREA WL BCM ESTABILISHED OVR N-CNTRL CO FOR SVRL HRS
TDY.  THERE WL BE VRY STG Q-G ASCENT ALG WITH STG...UPSLOPE WNDS
WHICH WL LEAD TO REDVLPMNT OF SNOW ACRS FNT RANGE/FTHILLS.  ATM VRY
UNSTBL AND EVEN AT THIS HOUR...A PRETTY HEATHY TSTM HAS FIRED OFF A
BOUNDRY JUST N OF LIMON.  GIVEN ALL THIS...WL CONT WNTR STORM WRNG
FOR MTNS...FTHILLS AND FNT RANGE ZNS.  SNOWFALL AMTS IN GOING
FCST LK A BIT HIGH...AND WL TRIM A COUPLE INCHES OFF THE TOP END
FOR A 5 TO 10 INCH TOTAL.

AS MENTIONED BEFORE...THE ERN PLAINS REMAIN A MORE QUESTIONABLE
PROPOSITION WITH REGARDS TO SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL.  THE DRY SLOT ALG
WITH THE RUC/S TRENDING TO A MORE MERIDONAL PSN OF UPR JET MAY MEAN
MOST OF THE SNOW OVR THE URBAN CORRIDOR WL MOVE NWD INTO WY INSTEAD
OF TRACKING EWD ACRS THE PLAINS.  THE EVENT SHUD TAKE A WHILE TO PAN
OUT FOR THE EASTERN PLAINS AND IT WL PBLY BE ARND NOON BEFORE SIGNIF
SNOW STARTS OUT THERE.  THUS...HV DECIDED TO DELAY WNTR STORM WATCH
FOR THE PLAINS EAST OF DENVER AND WL WAIT UNTIL A MORE CONCLUSIVE
ANSWER IS REVEALED.  THERE WL BE PLENTY OF WIND TO BLOW THE SNOW
ARND...SO EVEN THO SNOWFALL TOTALS MAY BE LGT ACRS THE PLAINS...
DRIVING CONDS WL BE POOR THERE AS WELL...I.E. HORIZONTAL SNOW.

THE SYS WL BE NRLY VERTICALLY STACKED BY AFTN...AND WL BEGIN TO
ACCELERATE NEWD OUT OF THE AREA.  MUCH OF THE ACCUMULATING SNOW WL
BEGIN TO TAPER OFF DURG THE AFTN EXCPT IN NE CORNER.  SNOW WL PBLY
DCRS TO SHWRS BY BEGINNING OF PD 2 IN MOST AREAS.  46

LONG TERM DISCUSSION:  AS STATED ABOVE...NORTHEAST CORNER QUITE
TROUBLESOME WITH PROBLEM OF DRY SLOT.  HOWEVER...BACK EDGE
DEFORMATION ZONE SHOULD PROGRESS SLOWLY EASTWARD THIS AFTERNOON AND
EARLY EVENING.  IT WOULD ONLY TAKE A COUPLE HOURS OF HEAVY SNOW TO
CREATE SOME REAL TRAVEL PROBLEMS WITH STRONG WINDS IN PLACE.  WILL
CARRY THE WATCH INTO THE EARLY EVENING IN ZONES 48 THRU 51.
OTHERWISE...SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS AND WIND TO DIMINISH DURING THE
EVENING AS SYSTEM PULLS OUT TO THE NORTHEAST.  THEN DRIER AND MUCH
WARMER CONDITIONS FOR THE EXTENDED AND THIS ALREADY HANDLED WELL IN
GOING FORECAST.

BARJENBRUCH

.DEN...WINTER STORM WARNING MOUNTAINS...FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS...AND
        ADJACENT PLAINS TODAY...ZONES 30>42.
       WINTER STORM WATCH NORT>HEAST PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON...ZNS
        43>46.
       WINTER STORM WATCH NORTHEAST CORNER THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY
        EVENING...ZONES 48>51.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Northeastern Weld County

When: April 22, 9:00 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Northeastern Weld County forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.555, -104.392 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Adams and Eastern Arapahoe Counties

When: April 22, 9:00 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Eastern Adams and Eastern Arapahoe Counties forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.762, -104.338 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Logan County/Sterling and Vicinity

When: April 22, 9:00 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Logan County/Sterling and Vicinity forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.725, -103.110 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Washington County/Akron and Vicinity

When: April 22, 9:00 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Washington County/Akron and Vicinity forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.971, -103.201 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Sedgwick and Phillips Counties

When: April 22, 9:00 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Sedgwick and Phillips Counties forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.876, -102.352 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Colorado in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, April 2001

Sources

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: 5238173, 5238174, 5238175, 5238176, 5238177.