High winds developed across portions of the mountains and foothills. Peak wind reports included: 102 mph (89 kts) atop Niwot Ridge, 80 mph (70 kts) at Estes Park, 75 mph (66 kts) at Carter Lake, 74 mph (64 kts) at Aspen Springs and 72 mph (63 kts) at Red Feather Lakes.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
High winds developed across portions of the mountains and foothills. Peak wind reports included: 102 mph (89 kts) atop Niwot Ridge, 80 mph (70 kts) at Estes Park, 75 mph (66 kts) at Carter Lake, 74 mph (64 kts) at Aspen Springs and 72 mph (63 kts) at Red Feather Lakes.
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 Dec 5, 2:30 PM MST, 9 hours 23 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
230 PM MST WED DEC 5 2001
SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: GREATEST CONCERN TONIGHT AND THURSDAY IS
AFFECT OF NEXT SHORT WAVE THAT GRAZES THE STATE. MOISTURE WAS
FINALLY BEGINNING TO INCREASE ACROSS WESTERN COLORADO AND UTAH AHEAD
OF THIS WAVE...SO EXPECT SNOW TO INCREASE OVER THE NORTHERN
MOUNTAINS THIS EVENING. LAPSE RATES OVERNIGHT ARE NOT VERY GOOD SO
ACCUMULATIONS SHOULD BE LIGHT AND RHEA/THALER SNOW MODEL BACKS THIS
UP WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF 1-4 INCHES. WINDS WILL BE INCREASING WITH
POTENTIAL STRONG MOUNTAIN WAVE OVER THE FRONT RANGE. MODEL CROSS
SECTIONS SHOW INVERSION LOWERING TO ABOUT 650 MB WHICH SHOULD BE LOW
ENOUGH TO GET A GOOD MOUNTAIN WAVE GOING. CROSS MOUNTAIN FLOW
NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT EITHER WITH CLOSE TO 50 KTS AT 700 MB. WITH
THAT AMOUNT OF FLOW IT DOESNT TAKE MUCH OF A MOUNTAIN WAVE TO GET
HIGH WIND CRITERIA. FORECAST SANGSTER VALUES OFF THE MESOETA ALSO
SHOW POTENTIAL FOR WARNING. WILL HOIST A HIGH WIND WATCH FOR THE
FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS FOR LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY
MORNING WHEN BEST STABILITY PROFILE EXISTS. IF STABLE LAYER LOWERS
AND MOUNTAIN WAVE IS ABLE TO MIGRATE DOWN THE HILL...THEN ZONES 38
AND 39 MAY ALSO HAVE TO BE ADDED TO HIGH WIND HIGHLIGHTS. DENVER
ZONE AND REST OF PLAINS WILL SEE LIGHTER WINDS IN CHINOOK SETUP BUT
STILL GUSTY AT TIMES.
WILL ALSO MENTION SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND POOR
VISIBILITIES WITH ALL THE WIND AND SOME FALLING SNOW.
BARJENBRUCH
LONG TERM DISCUSSION: BRISK NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT TO PREVAIL THURSDAY
NIGHT AND FRIDAY. MODELS INDICATE SHORTWAVE TO QUICKLY PASS ACROSS
AREA THURSDAY EVENING...WITH SUBSIDENCE IN PLACE BY MIDNIGHT. THIS
SHOWS UP NICELY IN DIV-Q FIELDS. MEAGER MOISTURE TO WORK WITH...BUT
WITH FORCING AND OROGRAPHICS...SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO SQUEEZE OUT A
COUPLE OF INCHES. SNOW TO DECREASE AFTER MIDNIGHT AS DOWNWARD
FORCING TAKES HOLD. WILL KEEP SOME SNOW SHOWERS GOING FRIDAY DUE TO
CONTINUED OROGRAPHICS. WINDS STILL A PROBLEM ACROSS MOUNTAINS AND
FOOTHILLS...BUT SHOULD STAY BELOW HIGH WIND CRITERIA DUE TO
UNFAVORABLE SHEAR AND STABILITY PROFILE AT MOUNTAIN TOP. ACROSS
PLAINS...MODELS SHOW SURFACE WINDS SHIFTING TO NORTHWEST DURING
AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...TEMPERATURE AND THICKNESS FORECAST GRIDS SHOW
A SLIGHT COOL DOWN. WILL UNDERCUT GUIDANCE A FEW DEGREES.
FOR FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...GRADIENT ALOFT PROGGED TO WEAKEN
FRIDAY NIGHT AS AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE DEVELOPS OVER THE GREAT BASIN.
WINDS SHOULD STILL BE GUSTY...MAINLY MOUNTAINS AND HIGHER
FOOTHILLS. OVER THE PLAINS...WINDS SHOULD DECOUPLE AND DECREASE
AFTER SUNSET. SOME LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS TO LINGER INTO EVENING HOURS
OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS BEFORE DISSIPATING AS DRIER AIR MOVES IN
WITH DEVELOPING RIDGE. SATURDAY SHOULD BE DRY AND WARMER WITH LESS
WIND AS RIDGE ESTABLISHES ITSELF OVER COLORADO.
FOR THE LONGER TERM...SUNDAY TO REMAIN WARM AND DRY WITH RIDGE
ALOFT. RIDGE TO FLATTEN MONDAY WITH WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT DEVELOPING
AND CONTINUING THROUGH WEDNESDAY. MRF AND EUROPEAN MODELS REMAIN
CONSISTENT IN FORMING CUTOFF LOW OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA...LATEST
AVN FOLLOWING SUITE. BUT...ANY WEATHER MAKER FOR MOUNTAINS LOOKS TO
BE SERIES OF SHORTWAVES WHICH ARE PROGGED BY THE MODELS TO PASS OVER
CWA. LATEST FORECAST INDICATES SLIGHT CHANCE OF MOUNTAIN SNOWS
MONDAY AND TUESDAY. SEE NO REASON AT THIS TIME TO CHANGE...AND WILL
KEEP TREND GOING INTO WEDNESDAY. LOWER ELEVATIONS SHOULD REMAIN DRY
AS DOWNSLOPE FLOW DOMINATES WITH NO SIGNS OF LOW LEVEL UPSLOPE. D-L
.DEN...HIGH WIND WATCH FRONT RANGE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS LATE
TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...ZONES 33>36.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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: 5275019, 5275020, 5275021.