High Wind in Colorado, December 5 to 6, 2001

Name: High Wind in Colorado, December 5 to 6, 2001
Start: 2001-12-05T23:59
End: 2001-12-06T01:15
Location: Colorado

December 5 to 6, 2001 · NWS PUB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 5, 2:00 PM MST, 9 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 5, 2:00 PM MST, 9 hours 59 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO COLORADO
200 PM MST WED DEC 5 2001

...MAIN CONCERN THIS PERIOD THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT WILL CONTINUE TO
BE WINDS...

CURRENTLY...TROF AXIS MOVING INTO NW COLORADO PER WATER VAPOR LOOP.
GUSTY OBS COMING OUT OF AIR FORCE ACADEMY (WEST GUSTS 35-40 KTS)
MONUMENT HILL (SW GUSTS 20-25KTS) AND A FEW MTN PASSES. VIS SHOWING
MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES THROUGHOUT THE CWA.

TONIGHT...SUBSIDENCE MOVES IN TONIGHT BEHIND THE TROF...WINDS SHIFT
MORE NW...AND OUR CWA IS IN RR SUBSIDENCE PORTION OF JET. THIS
SHOULD ENHANCE DOWNWARD MOTION AND ASSIST IN TRANSFERRING UPPER WINDS
DOWN TO SFC. NICE PACKING OF THETA SURFACES BY 9Z OVER PIKES PEAK
RANGE...MTNTOP WINDS ARE 50-65 KTS. CURRENT PACKAGE WITH GUSTS TO
60 LOOKS GOOD FOR TELLER COUNTY. SIMILAR CONDITIONS CONTINUE INTO
THURSDAY DAY...ALTHOUGH THETA LAYERS RELAX SLIGHTLY.

CROSS SECTIONS ON MESO-ETA GIVE SOME INSIGHT. WHILE THETA SFCS
PACKED BETTER TONIGHT WITH GOOD SUBSIDENCE...WIND SPEEDS ALOFT ARE
SLIGHTLY HIGHER TOMORROW NIGHT.  (70KTS 600MB 12Z FRI) WITH THESE
SPEEDS NEAR 600 MB...IT WONT TAKE MUCH OF A CHANGE IN THE STABLE
LAYER TO BRING US VERY CLOSE TO HIGH WIND CRITERIA. THIS BEARS SOME
SCRUTINY WITH THE NEXT RUN AS SUBTLE CHANGES MAY REQUIRE A WATCH.

TEMPERATURE-WISE...WILL INCREASE LOWS AND INCREASE HIGHS SLIGHTLY
ABOVE GUIDANCE ON ADJACENT PLAINS...AS THIS KIND OF DOWNSLOPE SHOULD
KEEP US UP OVERNIGHT AND WARM US UP TOMORROW. WILL CONTINUE THIS
TREND THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...THEN LET THINGS GO MORE TOWARD
GUIDANCE FRI NIGHT AS WINDS SUBSIDE AND WEAK RIDGE STARTS TO MOVE IN.
SATURDAY TEMPS INCREASE NEAR 4C AT 700 MB...AND AGAIN ANOTHER 5C BY
SUNDAY.

MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...MADE NO CHANGES. MODELS STILL ADVERTISING
DEVELOPMENT OF A TROF ON THE WEST COAST...SHIFTING FLOW NORTHWEST
BY TUESDAY AND COOLING THINGS DOWN SLIGHTLY. IF TRENDS CONTINUE
FUTURE UPDATES MAY NEED SOME COOLER TEMPS AND SLGT CHANCE POPS FOR
MOUNTAINS MONDAY AND TUESDAY.

.PUB...NONE.

KC

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains / X Sw Fremont / X E Sanguache / W Custer / W Huerfano / X N Costilla

When: December 5, 11:59 PM MST to December 6, 1:15 AM MST
Where: Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains / X Sw Fremont / X E Sanguache / W Custer / W Huerfano / X N Costilla forecast zone
Measured: 87 kt (100 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.832, -106.332 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

An upper level disturbance generated high winds, which gusted up to 100 mph, 8 miles west of Westcliffe in Custer county.

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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, December 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: 5275374.