High winds developed briefly in and near the Front Range Foothills. A spotter at Georgetown Lake measured a peak wind gust to 90 mph (78 kts), while an automated sensor atop Niwot Ridge measured 74 mph (64 kts).
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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 briefly in and near the Front Range Foothills. A spotter at Georgetown Lake measured a peak wind gust to 90 mph (78 kts), while an automated sensor atop Niwot Ridge measured 74 mph (64 kts).
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 Feb 2, 3:20 AM MST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 320 AM MST FRI FEB 2 2001 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: BAND OF MID AND HIGH LVL CLDS PASSING OVR CWFA ATTM ASSOCIATED WITH MID-LVL SHRTWV AND WK THERMAL TROF MOVG ALG STG NWLY FLOW ALOFT. WITH SHRTWV TROF AXIS STILL TO THE WEST OF AREA...SFC PRES IN LEE OF CO RCKYS CONTINUES TO FALL. AS OF 09 UTC GJT-TO-DEN 1500M PRES GRAD AT 8.5MBS. OFTEN SEE HI WNDS DVLP ALG FNT RNG WHEN GJT-TO-DEN PRES GRAD UP AROUND 9.7MBS. COULD SEE A PD OF HIGH WNDS AT HIGHER ELVTNS OF THE FNT RNG TODAY. BEST TIME FM LATE MRNG TIL LATE AFTN WHEN TIME-HEIGHT SECTIONS USING 10KM ETA SHOW STRONGEST STATIC STBLTY AND A MEAN CRITICAL LYR ABV 600MBS OVR FNT FNG. CROSS BARRIER FLOW NOT TERRIBLY STG TODAY ACCORDING TO RUC AND 10KM ETA...BUT ENUF TO PRODUCE W-NWLY 50-60KT GUSTS AT ELVTNS ABV 9 THSND FT ALG AND E OF THE CONT DVD. DEN 88D RADAR ALREADY INDICATING STG WNDS ATOP FNT RNG WITH GUST TO 52KTS RECORDED IN THE PAST HR ATOP NIWOT RIDGE IN WRN BOULDER CTY. SHOULD SEE STG/GUSTY CHINOOK WNDS WORKING DOWN TO FOOT OF FNT RNG BY ERLY THIS AFTN ONCE BACK EDGE OF CLD BAND MOVS OVR AREA. THIS IS ALSO ABOUT SAME TIME WHEN MID/UPR LVL WARM POOL BEGINS MOVING OVR AREA THEREBY STRENGTHENING THE MTN TOP INVERSION. HWVR HIGH WNDS NOT XPCTD TO BE WIDESPREAD NOR OF LONG DURATION AS SO OFTEN OCCURS WITH CHINOOK. COMBINATION OF SUNSHINE AND DOWNSLOPE FLOW SHOULD BE ENUF TO PRODUCE AFTN TEMPS SOME 10-15F ABV THOSE OBSERVED ON THU... ESPLY IN WNDY AREAS IN AND NR THE FNT RNG. NOT AS OPTIMISTIC FARTHER OUT ON THE PLAINS...PARTICULARLY E OF A GREELEY TO LIMON LINE WHERE FAIRLY DEEP SNOW CVR AND DELAYED SUNSHINE SHOULD KP AFTN TEMPS ABOUT WHERE THEY WERE YESTERDAY. FOR NOW...WILL MENTION STG WINDS IN AND NR THE FRONT RANGE...BUT WILL NOT GO WITH A HIGH WIND WATCH/WARNING FOR REASONS MENTIONED ABV. BAKER LONG TERM DISCUSSION...UPR LVL FLOW WL STRENGTHEN AND BECOME MORE WNW WITH TIME. OROGRAPHICS WL BE INCREASING IN THE NRN MTNS AS CROSS-SECTIONS SHOW DEEPENING MSTR DURING THE DAY ON SAT WITH WNW 700 MB FLOW AROUND 35-40KTS. LAPSE RATES ARENT THAT GREAT WITH VALUES AROUND 5 C/KM. HOWEVER FAIRLY STG UPR LVL JET WL MOVE INTO AREA ON SAT AND COULD HAVE SOME IMPACT ON SNOW AMOUNTS DUE TO CSI/PSI. MAY EVENTUALLY NEED SOME TYPE OF HIGHLIGHT FOR NRN MTNS SAT AFTN INTO SAT NGT. OVR NERN CO SHOULD SEE DOWNSLOPE FLOW ACRS AREA ON SAT. LINGERING SNOW COVER AND AMOUNT OF MID AND HI LVL CLD COVER MAY ALSO HAVE SOME IMPACT ON AFTN TEMPS. LATEST MESO-ETA SHOWS SLIGHTLY COOLER 700 MB TEMPS SAT AFTN SO READINGS MAY BE A FEW DEGREES COOLER THAN TODAYS HIGHS. MEANWHILE IN THE FOOTHILLS COULD SEE SOME GUSTY WNDS DVLP LATE FRI NGT INTO SAT DUE TO SOME MTN TOP STABILITY. COULD SEE SOME GUSTS MEETING HI WND CRITERIA IN A FEW SPOTS IN ZNS 35 AND 36 HOWEVER FOR NOW WL NOT ISSUE A WATCH. IN EXTENDED PD WNW FLOW SHOULD CONT ON SUN AND MON WITH MILD TEMPS OVR NERN CO AND A CONTINUED CHC OF OROGRAPHIC SNOWS IN THE NRN MTNS. FOR TUE THRU THU MEDIUM RANGE MODELS DIVERGE SOMEWHAT WITH MEAN 500 MB PTRN. LATEST MRF DVLPS BROAD UPR LVL TROF ACRS AREA TUE-THU WITH A CDFNT MOVING INTO NRN CO LATE MON NGT AND TUE. MEANWHILE CANADIEN AND EMCWF MODELS SHOWS MAIN AXIS OF UPR LVL TROF FURTHER TO THE WEST OF THE AREA THRU WED. AT THIS POINT HARD TO SAY WHICH SOLUTION IS CORRECT. KLEYLA .DEN...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 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, February 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: 5230661, 5230662.