1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 4, 2:21 PM MST, 1 hour 39 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO COLORADO 221 PM MST TUE DEC 4 2001 BRIEF SNOW EVENT FOR THE SW/CNTRL MTNS TNGT...THEN THREAT OF HIGH WINDS RETURNS TO THE SERN CO MTNS AND ADJACENT PLAINS WED NIGHT INTO FRI. CURRENTLY: CLOUDS INCREASING OVER THE WRN HALF OF COLORADO AHEAD OF SWRN U.S. S/W TROUGH. OCCASIONAL -SN REPORTED BY THE WOLF CREEK AWOS...THOUGH SATELLITE IMAGES HINT AT STEADIER LIGHT PRECIP AT LEAST OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF ZONES 60/61. MODERATE WIND SPEEDS (<40 KTS) OVER THE SERN MTNS AND ACROSS THE FAR SERN PLAINS WHERE KSPD HAS GUSTED TO 37 KT IN THE LAST HOUR OR SO. NICE MILD DAY OVER THE EAST WITH 60S OVER THE PLAINS...40S AND 50S MTNS AND VALLEYS. TNGT: WEAKENING UPPER SYSTEM LIFTS OUT ACROSS THE STATE...BRINGING A SHORT PERIOD OF UPWARD MOTION TO MAINLY MTN ZONES. OROGRAPHICS ONLY BRIEFLY FAVORABLE UNTIL AROUND 03Z OVER SWRN MTN ZONES...WITH OROGRAPHIC SNOW MODEL ONLY CRANKING OUT AN INCH OR 2 BY MIDNIGHT. FLOW BECOMES WRLY AFTER 06Z...WHICH WILL BEGIN TO SHUT DOWN PRECIP IN ZONES 60/61...BUT IS A LITTLE MORE FAVORABLE FOR THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. CURRENT 1-4 SNOWFALL FORECAST WITH NO HIGHLIGHTS LOOKS LIKE A GOOD CALL FOR CENTRAL/SWRN MTN ZONES...MAINLY JUST ISOLATED TO SCT -SHSN REMAINING MTN AREAS. SEE LITTLE OR NO UPWARD MOTION OVER THE PLAINS...SO WILL CUT BACK TO JUST FLURRIES ADJACENT TO THE MTNS AND REMOVE MENTION ENTIRELY FARTHER EAST. BRIEF PERIOD OF GUSTY WINDS MANY AREAS TOWARD MORNING WITH TROUGH PASSAGE AND BRIEF COLD ADVECTION...NOTHING VERY IMPRESSIVE HOWEVER. WED: A FEW LINGERING -SHSN MTNS IN THE MORNING AS TROUGH PASSES... THEN DRY BY MIDDAY. TEMPS COOLER WITH 700 MB COLD ADVECTION SUGGESTING A 10-15 DEG COOL DOWN FROM TODAY. AGAIN SOME WINDS OVER THE MTNS. WED NGT-THU: NEXT S/W TROUGH APPROACHES FROM THE NW WITH TIGHTENING GRADIENTS AND INCREASING WINDS EXPECTED. PROBABLY SOME -SHSN CENTRAL MTNS WITH NWRLY FLOW ALOFT...MAIN PRECIP WILL BE FARTHER NORTH AND WEST. MAIN CONCERN WILL BE WINDS AS BOTH ETA/AVN HAVE SOME 40-50 KT VALUES AT 700 ACROSS THE AREA BY 12Z THU MORNING... ALONG WITH FAIRLY STRONG MAX OF DOWNWARD MOTION. WILL BEEF UP THE WIND SPEEDS OVER THE MTNS AND ADJACENT PLAINS. DESPITE S/W TROUGH PASSAGE...700 MB TEMPS SHOW LITTLE CHANGE...WITH EVEN SOME SLIGHT WARMING OVER THE PLAINS AFTER 18Z. THUS LEANED A LITTLE TOWARD THE SLIGHTLY WARMER MAV NUMBERS. THU NIGHT-FRI: SAME SET-UP ONCE AGAIN WITH S/W TROUGH MOVING TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA IN NWRLY FLOW ALOFT...WHILE GRADIENT AND 700 MB WINDS INCREASE ACROSS CENTRAL AND ERN CO. WILL CONTINUE WITH WINDY AT TIMES WORDING CURRENTLY IN THE FORECAST. MAYBE SOME MINOR COOLING OF MAX TEMPS BUT AGAIN NOTHING MAJOR. SAT-TUE...KEPT EVERYONE DRY AND MILD WITH WEAK UPPER RIDGE BUILDING...EVEN WINDS LOOK TO BE ON THE DECREASE. MRF BEGINS TO AMPLIFY THE ERN PACIFIC RIDGE NEXT WEEK WHICH SHOULD ALLOW S/W ENERGY TO CARVE OUT A DEEPER TROUGH ALONG THE WEST COAST. SUSPECT ANY SIG WX WITH THIS TROUGH WILL BE MID TO LATE WEEK...JUST OUTSIDE THE VALID PERIOD OF THIS FCST CYCLE. .PUB...NONE. PETERSEN
COZ058>081-042100- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 1200 PM MST TUE DEC 4 2001 ...THE SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHEAST AND SOUTH CENTRAL COLORADO... FOR THIS AFTERNOON...LOCAL WIND GUSTS UP TO 55 MPH ARE POSSIBLE IN THE SOUTHEAST MOUNTAINS TODAY...MAINLY THROUGH HIGH MOUNTAIN PASSES INCLUDING MONARCH PASS AND LA VETA PASS. FOR TONIGHT...THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR 1 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOWFALL ACROSS THE EASTERN SAN JUAN AND LA GARITA MOUNTAINS...INCLUDING THE SAWATCH RANGE. THE POTENTIAL FOR ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL WILL PRIMARILY BE ALONG SOUTH AND WEST FACING SLOPES. SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WILL CREATE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IN THE SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS TONIGHT. FOR THE REMAINING MOUNTAIN AREAS...ONLY ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
An upper level disturbance brought heavy orographic snow to the summit of Wolf Creek Pass, which received up to 10 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, December 2001
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: 5275373.