Heavy snow fell across portions of Metropolitan Denver, South Park and the Front Range Foothills. Snowfall totals included: 13 inches, 5 miles south of Antero Reservoir, 12 inches at Crow Hill and 8 miles north of Evergreen, 10 inches at Evergreen, Hartsel, Hohnholz Ranch and 11 miles southwest of Morrison, 9 inches at Genesee, 8 inches at Lookout Mountain, 5 miles west of Littleton and 7 miles…
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
Heavy snow fell across portions of Metropolitan Denver, South Park and the Front Range Foothills. Snowfall totals included: 13 inches, 5 miles south of Antero Reservoir, 12 inches at Crow Hill and 8 miles north of Evergreen, 10 inches at Evergreen, Hartsel, Hohnholz Ranch and 11 miles southwest of Morrison, 9 inches at Genesee, 8 inches at Lookout Mountain, 5 miles west of Littleton and 7 miles north of Bailey, 6 inches at Arvada and Ken Caryl, with 5 inches reported at Broomfield, Chief Hosa and Thornton.
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 8, 2:42 AM MST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 242 AM MST THU FEB 8 2001 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: MAIN CONCERNS TODAY ARE HOW MUCH SNOW WILL OCCUR AND WHEN WL FREEZING DRIZZLE CHG TO SNOW OVR THE NERN PLAINS. MAIN UPR LVL LOW IS OVR SRN CA HOWEVER AXIS OF UPR LVL JET IN SW FLOW ALOFT WL CONT OVR CWA TODAY. ALREADY SEEING AFFECTS OF CSI/PSI EARLY THIS MORNING AS PCPN DVLPG NR THE FOOTHILLS IS BECOMING BANDED. BEST MSTR IN MID LVLS WL BECOMING ALIGNED IN A SW-NE ORIENTATION WITH SERN EDGE OF DEEPER MSTR BEING DEFINED BY A KLIC TO KAKO LN. MEANWHILE STRONGEST QG ASCENT IS FCST TO REMAIN S AND SW OF AREA TODAY HOWEVER GRIDDED FIELDS ARE SHOWING SOME HEALTHY GEOFRONTOGENSIS IN THE 850-700 MB LYR TODAY. 700 MB TEMPS ARE FCST TO GRADUALLY DROP THIS MORNING BY LATEST MESO-ETA WHICH SHOULD ALLOW FOR THE FREEZING DRIZZLE TO GRADUALLY BECOME MOSTLY SNOW LATER THIS MORNING. FORECASTING SNOW AMOUNTS TODAY IS GOING TO BE A DIFFICULT TASK. DEPENDING ON EXACTLY WHERE BANDING OCCURS SOME PLACES COULD GET 2 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW WHILE OTHER PLACES MAY NOT GET MUCH AT ALL. FOR THE MTNS FLOW ALOFT WL REMAIN SW WHICH ISNT FAVORABLE FOR GOOD OROGRAPHIC SNOWS. IN THE FOOTHILLS UPSLOPE WL BE WK BUT COULD SEE SOME GOOD SNOWS IN ZN 36 WHERE PCPN MAY BE ENHANCED BY CSI. TEMPS TODAY WL EITHER REMAIN STEADY OR SLOWLY FALL AS COLDER AIR CONTS TO ADVECT INTO THE RGN. KLEYLA LONG TERM DISCUSSION: STILL WAITING FOR UPR TROF OVR THE GREAT BASIN AND DESERT SOUTHWEST TO MAKE ITS MOV ACROSS THE CNTRL/SRN RCKY MTN RGN AS THE LAST 3 MDL RUNS HAD US BELIEVE WOULD HAPPPEN SOME 18-24 HRS AGO. MODELS HAVE A TOUGH TIME RESOLVING CLOSED LOWS OVR THE DESERT SW FOR SOME REASON. THIS WEEKS RUNS HAVE BEEN NO EXCEPTION. 00 UTC/WED ETA AND AVN PROGD H5 LOW TO BE NR LAS VEGAS AT 00 UTC/ THU. AS OF 06 UTC/THU H5 LOW WAS STILL OVR SRN CA ACCORDING TO IR AND WATER VAPOR SATL IMAGERY...AND ONLY NOW IS IT SHOWING SIGNS OF HEADING EAST ALG US/MEX BORDER. STRONG UPSTREAM KICKER IN THE GULF OF ALASKA ONE REASON FOR THE TURN INLAND. 120+ JET MAXIMA HAS ALSO ROUNDED BOTTOM OF TROUGH. THEREFORE SHOULD SEE A MORE PROGRESSIVE TROUGH NEXT 24 HRS AS ADVERTISED BY LATEST ETA AND AVN. HWVR STILL SOMEWHAT SKEPTICAL THAT MDLS HV A SOLID HANDLE ON ITS MOVEMENT BASED ON THEIR RECENT TRACK RECORD. ETA AND AVN SHOW H5 LOW RACING E/NEWRD ACRS AZ AND NRN MX TO NR TRINIDAD BY 06 UTC/FRI...ABOUT 6 HOURS LATER THAN PREVIOUS RUN SHOWED. ACTUALLY...AVN SHOWED A CLOSED LOW AT THAT TIME WHILE THE ETA SHOWED AN OPEN WAVE TROUGH. BOTTON LINE...WILL NOT BE QUICK TO CLEAR OUT ARCTIC AIR...CLOUD CVR AND CHANCES FOR PCPN ON NERN CO PLNS. BOTH MODELS SHOW DRYING AND WARMING WITH CWFA UNDER QG DESCENT AND NWLY/DOWNSLOPE FLOW AS ERLY AS 12Z/FRI. FOR NOW WILL DELAY IMPROVEMENT UNTIL LATER IN THE DAY FRI. ANY ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATION THU NGT WILL BE SPOTTY AND LIGHT WITH NO ACCUMULATION XPCTD FRI. COLDEST TEMPS ALOFT OVR CWFA THU NGT...BUT WITH CLOUD CVR MAY NOT GET AS COLD AS ERLIER PREDICTED. WITH CLEARING SKIES FRI NGT COULD ACTUALLY SEE LOWEST MIN TEMPS ERLY SAT MRNG. SATURDAY...MODELS SHOW A SHRTWV RIDGE OVR CO AS NEXT UPR TROF DIVES DOWN THE WEST COAST AGAIN. FLOW ALOFT BECOMES SWLY DURING THE DAY SAT WITH MID-LVL MOISTURE INCREASING OVR THE MTNS BY AFTN. SUSPECT ALL THIS MAY BE A BIT PREMATURE...SO WILL HOLD OFF ON PUTTING ANY PCPN IN MTN ZNS TIL SAT NGT. THIS WEAKENING SHRTWV WAVE RACES ACRS CO SUN WITH ITS BEING PUSHED ALONG BY WHAT APPEARED TO BE A MUCH STRONGER AND COLDER SYSTEM MOVG OVR THE WA/OR COAST ON SUN. THE TWO SHRTWVS CARVE OUT BROAD LONG WAVE TROUGH OVR THE WRN CONUS ERLY NEXT WEEK WITH WAVES OF MOISTURE MOVING ALONG BOTTOM OF THE TROUGH. FIRST SUBSTANTIAL WAVE OF MOISTURE SUPPOSEDLY ARRIVES IN CO SUN NGT/MON MRNG...SETTING THE STAGE FOR MEASURABLE SNOWFALL IN THE MTNS. SNOW AMTS SHOULD ON THE LOW SIDE AS SWLY FLOW NOT FAVORABLE FOR OROGRAPHIC SNOWFALL IN N-CNTRL MTNS. THE PLAINS SHOULDN/T SEE ANY PCPN WITH ONLY AN INCREASE IN HIGH CLOUDS AND GUSTY W/SWLY WINDS IN AND NR THE FTHLS ON SUN. LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK...MRF SHOWS STRONG WEST COAST UPR LOW TAKING A SIMILAR TRACK AS THIS LATEST SYSTEM. MUST ASSUME MRF IS AGAIN TOO FAST IN STEERING UPR LOW ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN ON WED. FOR NOW WILL LEAVE THE CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE MTNS ALREADY IN FORECAST...BUT WILL REMOVE MENTION OF PCPN AT LOWER ELVTNS. CALL BE A SKEPTIC. BAKER .DEN...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 heavy snow. 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: 5230668, 5230669, 5230670, 5230723.