A winter storm quickly moved through portions of the Colorado High Country. Snowfall totals included: 7 inches at Fraser, 6 inches at Copper Mountain and the Eisenhower Tunnel, with 5 inches reported at Breckenridge.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
A winter storm quickly moved through portions of the Colorado High Country. Snowfall totals included: 7 inches at Fraser, 6 inches at Copper Mountain and the Eisenhower Tunnel, with 5 inches reported at Breckenridge. Wind gusts generally ranged from 40 to 60 mph (52 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 3, 3:20 AM MST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
320 AM MST SAT FEB 03 2001
SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: A TWO PRONG WEATHER DAY IN STORE FOR PARTS
OF CWFA. FIRST ARE THE VRY STG W-NWLY WNDS XPCTD THIS MRNG IN THE
MTNS AND FNT RNG FTHLS. THEN THE SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW XPCTD FOR
PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AREA THIS AFTERNOON. 60-95KT NWLY WNDS ON
PLATTEVILLE PROFILER AOA 650 MBS PROGD TO REMAIN OVR THE FNT RNG AT
LEAST THRU 18Z TODAY. 10KM ETA AND MM5 CROSS SECTIONS INDICATE A
WELL PRONOUNCED MTN WV/HYDRAULIC JUMP SIGNATURE IN THE LEE OF THE
FNT RNG THIS MRNG WITH MM5 ALSO PROGGING A CROSS BARRIER WIND OF
75KTS AS LOW AS 700MB LVL AT 12Z AND 15Z. AT ABOUT SAME TIME...
LAYER NR MTN TOP LVL AND OVR E SLOPE OF FNT RNG GROWS INCREASINGLY
STABLE THIS MRNG WITH PROGD LAPSE RATES DROPPING BELOW 2K/KM. HAVE
ALREADY SEEN GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH PAST FEW HOURS AT NIWOT SADDLE
IN WRN BOULDER CTY. BELIEVE SIMILAR WIND SPDS WILL BECOME MORE
WIDESPREAD ALONG AND EAST OF THE CONT DVD IN THE NEXT FEW HRS.
WHEREAS MUCH LIGHTER WINDS ARE XPCTD IN THE LOWER FTHLS AND ON THE
ADJACENT PLNS...YET CAN/T RULE OUT LOCAL GUSTS TO 30 MPH. A STG
VERT WIND SHEER PROFILE AND THE LACK OF A MEAN CRITICAL LAYER SHOULD
KP STRONGEST WINDS UP OVR HIGHER ELVTNS. WILL ISSUE A SHORT
DURATION HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE FNT RNG FTHL ZNS 35/36 ABV 8500
FT...AND FOR MTN ZNS 33/34 FOR EAST FACING SLOPES. WARNING WILL GO
TIL NOON TODAY.
THIS AFTN...LAPSE RATES STEEPEN WITH MID-LVL MOISTURE ON THE
INCREASE. SEE SCATTERED SNOW SHWRS DVLPING ON WEST SLOPES OF NRN
MTNS BY LATE MRNG AND BECOMING WIDSPREAD IN THE AFTERNOON. EVEN
THOUGH GRIDS SHOW WINDS ON THE DECREASE AFT 18Z...SPEEDS STILL IN
THE 30-50KT RANGE AT HIGHER ELVTNS. DO NOT SEE MUCH ACCUMULATION
DURING FIRST PD...WITH BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW BEING BIGGEST
CONCERN. SO WILL ISSUE A SNOW/BLOWING SNOW ADVSY FOR MTN ZNS 33..34
BEGINNING THIS AFTN. FOR THE MTNS VLYS AND ERN PLAINS...LOOKING FOR
ANOTHER RELATIVELY MILD DAY...EVEN WITH SCT AND BKN SKY COVER FOR
MUCH OF THE DAY. WARMEST TEMPS WILL BE FOUND IN CHINOOK WIND ZONE
ALG FNT RNG FTHLS AND OVR HIR TRRN OF MONUMENT RIDGE AS FAR E AS
LIMON. PREFER WARMER TEMP GUIDANCE GIVEN BY FWC AND FAN. BAKER
LONG TERM DISCUSSION: STG NWLY FLOW ALOFT WL CONT OVR RGN THRU SUN
INTO MON. SHOULD CONT TO SEE SOME OROGRAPHIC SNOWS IN THE NRN MTNS
TONIGHT AND SUN. 700 MB WNDS WL REMAIN IN THE 35 TO 40 KT RANGE
WITH LAPSE RATES AROUND 5 C/KM. CROSS-SECTIONS SHOW FAIRLY LIMITED
MSTR DEPTH HOWEVER ENOUGH MSTR SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR GENERAL 2-4
INCH AMOUNTS ON FAVORED NWLY EXPOSURES BOTH TONIGHT AND SUN. ONLY
THING THAT COULD ENHANCE SNOW AMOUNTS WOULD BE PSBL CSI BANDING.
WITH GUSTY NWLY WNDS AND SNOW WL NEED A SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW
ADVISORY FOR TONIGHT IN THE NRN MTNS. OVR NERN CO EXPECT DRY
CONDITIONS WITH VARIABLE AMOUNTS OF CLD CVR MOVING ACRS RGN NEXT 24
HRS. GRIDDED FIELDS SHOW 700 MB TEMPS WARMING SOME ON SUN WHICH
SHOULD ALLOW FOR SLIGHTLY HIGHER AFTN TEMPS. WARMEST READINGS WL BE
NR THE FOOTHILLS AND WHERE SNOW COVER IS MINIMAL. GUSTY WNDS AT
TIMES WL CONT NR THE FOOTHILLS HOWEVER CONDITIONS DONT APPEAR
FAVORABLE FOR HIGH WNDS.
IN EXTENDED PD HI WND THREAT MAY INCR SUN NGT INTO MON IN THE
FOOTHILLS DEPENDING ON DEVELOPMENT OF MTN TOP INVERSION. COULD
STILL SEE SOME OROGRAPHIC SNOWS IN THE MTNS SUN NGT BUT THIS
ACTIVITY SHOULD DIMINISH ON MON AS MSTR DECREASES AND MID LVL
WARMING TAKES PLACE. OVR NERN CO GOOD DOWNSLOPE WARMING SHOULD
OCCUR ON MON WITH TEMPS POSSIBLY NEAR 60 DEGREES IN SOME PLACES. BY
TUE AND FLOW ALOFT WL BEGIN TO TRANSITION AS A BROAD UPR LVL TROF
BEGINS TO DVLP OVR RGN. A CDFNT WL MOVE INTO NRN CO MON NGT AND
SHOULD CAUSE SOME UPSLOPE FLOW TO DVLP ON TUE WITH A CHC OF SNOW.
LATEST MRF SHOWS UPSLOPE WEAKENING ON WED SO CHC OF SNOW OVR NERN CO
MAY BE LOW. IN THE MTNS SHOULD SEE SOME SNOW BOTH TUE AND WED IN
NWLY FLOW ALOFT. FOR THE LATTER HALF OF NEXT WEEK NEW MRF SHOWS
QUITE A CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS RUNS AS IT DEVELOPS A DEEP TROF OVR
CNTRL ROCKIES BY FRI. IF THIS VERIFIES THEN THERE WOULD BE A BETTER
CHC OF SNOW ACRS MUCH OF AREA LATE THU INTO FRI WITH MUCH COLDER
TEMPS. KLEYLA
.DEN...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL NOON TODAY FOR EAST SLOPES OF THE
NRN MTNS...ZNS 33/34...AND FOR THE FNT RNG FTHLS...ZNS
35/36 ABOVE 8500 FEET.
SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT
FOR THE NRN MTNS...ZNS 33/34.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter storm. 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: 5230663, 5230664.