High winds blew for a brief time overnight. 5 miles south of Estes Park.
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 blew for a brief time overnight. Niwot Ridge registered a peak wind gust to 77 mph (67 kts), 75 mph (65 kts) at the Gamow Tower in Boulder, and 72 mph (63 kts) registered 2.5 miles south of Estes Park.
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 4, 2:59 PM MST, 8 hours 1 minute earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
259 PM MST SUN FEB 4 2001
SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: RADAR IS SHOWING WIND SIGNATURE ON THE
SLIGHT INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON. THE HIGHEST SENSORS HAVE BEEN
SHOWING GUSTS IN THE 40-50 KNOT RANGE WITHIN THE LAST COUPLE HOURS.
CROSS SECTIONS AND GRIDS SHOW A PRETTY DECENT MOUNTAIN WAVE SET UP
OVERNIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING...THERE IS A GOOD MOUNTAIN TOP STABLE
LAYER FROM AFTER 03Z UNTIL ABOUT 12Z. THE SHEAR PROFILE IS
FAVORABLE AS WELL. THE BEST LOW LEVEL PRESSURE GRADIENT IS FROM
06Z TO ABOUT 18Z MONDAY NOONTIME. GUSTS COULD GET TO 70-80 MPH BUT IT
WILL BE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS ONLY. WILL LET WATCH RIDE FOR THE
SWING SHIFT TO EVALUATE. CURRENT SATELLITE PICTURES SHOW A DECENT
AMOUNT OF MAINLY HIGH CLOUDS UPSTREAM BUT MOISTURE GRIDS SHOW PRETTY
DRY OVER ALL OF THE FORECAST AREA OVERNIGHT. MAYBE ENOUGH IN THE MOUNTAINS
FOR "ISOLATED" COVERAGE. TEMPERATURE GRIDS ARE SHOWING A 3-6 C WARM
UP FOR LOWS FROM THIS MORNING'S READINGS. RJK
LONG TERM DISCUSSION: WIND ALREADY TALKED ABOUT ABOVE...AND WILL
CONTINUE HIGHLIGHT UNTIL NOON MONDAY WHEN VERTICAL SPEED SHEAR
INCREASES SUBSTANTIALLY AND MOUNTAIN TOP STABLE LAYER DECREASES
AHEAD OF NEXT SHORT WAVE. THE TAIL END OF THIS SHORT WAVE WILL
DRIFT ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS IN THE AFTERNOON WHICH SHOULD BRING AN
INCREASE IN MOISTURE AND WEAK LIFT TO GET ANOTHER ROUND OF SNOW
SHOWERS GOING. SNOW MODEL YIELDED 2 TO 5 INCHES...AND THESE NUMBERS
LOOK OK FOR NOW. IF ADEQUATE MOISTURE COMES IN...THEN ANOTHER SNOW
AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY MAY BE REQUIRED SINCE WINDS ARE SO STRONG.
ON THE PLAINS...DOWNSLOPE FLOW INCREASES WITH SOME LEE TROFING.
THEREFORE...MAX TEMPS SHOULD GET INTO THE LOWER TO MID 50S MOST
AREAS...BUT SNOW COVERED LOCATIONS WILL AGAIN BE HELD BACK IN THE
MID TO UPPER 40S.
THINGS MAY GET INTERESTING FOR LATER IN THE FORECAST PERIOD AS
INITIAL COLD FRONT MOVES INTO NORTHEAST COLORADO MONDAY EVENING...AND
THEN A MORE SIGNIFICANT SURGE ON TUESDAY. BIGGER QUESTIONS ARISE AS
TO MOVEMENT OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE NOW ON THE ALASKAN COAST. ALL
MODELS HAVE TRENDED FARTHER WEST WITH EACH CONSECUTIVE RUN...AND 12Z
AVN IS MUCH DEEPER THAN LAST NIGHTS RUN. HOWEVER...THINK AVN MAY
STILL BE A LITTLE TOO FAR EAST WITH EVENTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF UPPER
LEVEL LOW OVER THE SOUTHWEST U.S. NOGAPS WAS THE FARTHEST SOUTH AND
WEST...BUT EVEN THAT SOLUTION WOULD BRING SNOW TO NORTHEAST COLORADO
SINCE DECENT UPSLOPE EXISTS EAST OF THE ROCKIES AND JET RUNS
OVERHEAD. IF AVN HAPPENS TO VERIFY...THEN WE COULD BE LOOKING AT A
HEALTHY SNOWSTORM. CONSERVATIVE APPROACH IS THE WAY TO GO FOR NOW
THOUGH WITH MODEL INCONSISTENCIES.
NORTHEAST COLORADO MAY BE IN BETWEEN SYSTEMS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY SO
DRY AND SLIGHTLY WARMER THEN. BARJENBRUCH
.DEN...HIGH WIvND WATCH NRN FOOTHILLS LATE TONIGHT THROUGH NOON
MONDAY...ZNS 35 AND 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, 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: 5230665, 5230666, 5230667.