A ground blizzard made travel across the northeastern plains of Colorado impossible as whiteout conditions developed. Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph caused extensive blowing and drifting snow, up to 12 feet in depth.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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 ground blizzard made travel across the northeastern plains of Colorado impossible as whiteout conditions developed. Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph caused extensive blowing and drifting snow, up to 12 feet in depth. Interstate 70, from Limon to the Kansas stateline, U.S. Highway 34, from Brush to the Nebraska stateline, and State Highways 61 and 63, from Otis to Sterling, and from Anton to Interstate 76, were closed for several hours. Peak wind reports included: 61 mph (53 kts), 4 miles east of Haxtun, 54 mph (47 kts) at Woodrow, 53 mph (46 kts) at Merino, with 47 mph (41 kts) at Hereford and 9 miles south of Last Chance.
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 Jan 30, 2:45 PM MST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 245 PM MST TUE JAN 30 2001 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: MONSTER LOW CONTS LUMBERING NEWD AND AWAY FM CO. THE STRONG GRADIENT AND CIRCULATION ARND THE W SIDE OF THE LOW IS BEGINNING TO DECREASE WITH WINDS ALSO SLOWLY TAPERING OFF. RADAR ECHOES HAVE ALSO BEEN SLOWLY DCRSG...ALTHO SATELLITE PICTURES SHOW COOLING CLOUD TOPS. CALLS TO SPOTTERS SHOW THAT THE NE CORNER OF THE STATE STILL HAS POOR VISIBILITIES WITH LIGHT SNOW FALLING AND DRIFTING OF WHAT WAS ALRDY ON THE GRND. ROADS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY ARE CLOSED AND I-70 EAST OF LIMON HAS BEEN CLOSED ALL AFTN. SUSTAINED WNDS ARE LESS THAN 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO ARND 35 MPH. WL DOWNGRADE THE BLIZZARD WARNING TO A BLOWING SNOW ADVSY FOR ZNS 46..48..49 AND 50. WEB CAMS IN THE MTNS SHOW SOME SCT SNOW SHOWER ACTIVITY. AFTER THE SYSTEM MOVES FURTHER EASTWARD...RIDGING AT THE SFC AND ALOFT WL BEGIN TAKING OVR WITH MTN SHOWERS COMING TO AN END. IMPROVEMENT MAY BE SLOW TO COME...SO WL NOT MENTION IT OCCURRING UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT. KDRBY LONG TERM DISCUSSION: ON WEDNESDAY...SURFACE GRADIENT WEAKENS SIGNIFICANTLY OVER PLAINS...SO WINDS MUCH WEAKER. STILL...MESOETA INDICATING 20 TO 30KTS THROUGH 00Z...ENOUGH TO MENTION SOME WINDS THERE. QUICK MOVING WEAK UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TO MOVE ACROSS CWA DURING THE DAY. MOISTURE INCREASES ACCORDINGLY...BUT CROSS SECTIONS SEEM OVERZEALOUS. STILL...ENOUGH OROGRAPHICS AND DYNAMICS AVAILABLE TO MENTION SOME ACCUMULATIONS OVER THE MOUNTAINS. DOWNSLOPE FLOW ACROSS PLAINS WILL KEEP POPS NIL...THOUGH THERE COULD BE SOME VIRGA DURING THE AFTERNOON. SHORTWAVE TO BE EAST OF AREA BY 00Z...AND CROSS SECTIONS SHOW MOISTURE DECREASES...SO MOUNTAIN SNOWS SHOULD DECREASE. SOME MID LEVEL SUBSIDENCE IN PLACE BEHIND WAVE...AND ETA SHOWS DEVELOPMENT OF MOUNTAIN TOP INVERSION. SO WINDS SHOULD INCREASE A BIT MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS. MODEL SOUNDINGS INDICATE INVERSION OVER PLAINS AS WELL...SO EXPECT WINDS TO DECOUPLE. TEMPERATURES TO WARM MOST AREAS...BUT CLOUD COVER WILL KEEP READINGS NEAR GUIDANCE. FOR THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...MODELS INDICATE ANOTHER SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS CWA DURING THE MORNING HOURS. THERE SEEMS TO BE A BIT MORE DYNAMICS AND OROGRAPHICS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS WAVE. EXPECT SNOW TO INCREASE AGAIN OVER MOUNTAINS. DYNAMICS WEAKEN DURING AFTERNOON...BUT CROSS SECTIONS KEEP FAIRLY DEEP MOISTURE DEPTH THROUGH THE EVENING. SO SNOWFALL WILL BE PRIMARILY OROGRAPHICALLY DRIVEN. PLAINS TO REMAIN DRY THROUGH THE PERIOD DUE TO THE CONTINUED DOWNSLOPE FLOW. TEMPERATURES SLIGHTLY WARMER ON PLAINS AS SHOWN BY INCREASED THICKNESS VALUES...BUT CLOUD COVER TO KEEP VALUES BELOW GUIDANCE. FOR THE EXTENDED...LONG TERM MODELS HAVE SIMILAR SOLUTIONS THROUGH SATURDAY...THEN BEGIN TO DEVIATE SUNDAY. LATEST MRF SHOWS STRONG NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT INTO MONDAY...WITH RIDGE TRYING TO BUILD OVER AREA TUESDAY. SO LOTS OF UNCERTAINTY AFTER SUNDAY. STILL ALOT OF MOISTURE PROGGED OVER AREA THROUGH PERIOD...WILL KEEP THE CHANCE OF GSNOW CONTINUING OVER MOUNTAINS WITH THE LOWER ELEVATIONS DRY. D-L .DEN...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 blizzard. 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, January 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: 5228121, 5228122, 5228123, 5228124, 5228125, 5228126.