Heavy snow occurred over northeast Colorado as a combination of upslope and convective snowfall bands developed over the area. Storm totals included: 12 inches, 8 miles northwest of Last Chance, 11 inches at Fairplay, 10 inches at Genesee and 10 miles north of Otis, 9 inches, 4 miles east of Shamrock, 8 inches at Elizabeth, Lake George, 4 miles south of Lindon, Lookout Mountain, 8 miles south of…
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The episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
Heavy snow occurred over northeast Colorado as a combination of upslope and convective snowfall bands developed over the area. Storm totals included: 12 inches, 8 miles northwest of Last Chance, 11 inches at Fairplay, 10 inches at Genesee and 10 miles north of Otis, 9 inches, 4 miles east of Shamrock, 8 inches at Elizabeth, Lake George, 4 miles south of Lindon, Lookout Mountain, 8 miles south of Sedalia and Strasburg, 7 inches, 4 miles west of Castle Rock and 8 miles northwest of Evergreen, with 6 inches at Aurora, Crow Hill, 8 miles west of Evergreen and Parker. Elsewhere, storm totals ranged anywhere from 2 to 5 inches.
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 Mar 10, 3:35 AM MST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
335 AM MST SAT MAR 10 2001
SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: CUTTING TO THE CHASE...WILL REPLACE CURRENT
WINTER STORM WATCH WITH A SNOW ADVISORY STARTING THIS AFTERNOON.
SNOW ADVISORY WILL ENCOMPASS THE FNT RNG FTHLS ZNS 35/36...PARK CTY
ZN 37...AND THE MONUMENT HILL CTYS OF DOUGLAS AND WRN ELBERT. OUR
CWFA WILL BE IN FOR A ONE-TWO PUNCH NEXT 24 HRS. FIRST PUNCH WL
COME FM A STG COLD FNT NOW DROPPING SWRD THRU SERN WY. AS OF 10
UTC THE FRONT AND ITS WIND SHFT WAS JUST N OF CYS AS INDICATED ON
RADAR AND LDAD SFC PLOTS. CURRENT POSITION OF FNT PRETTY MUCH
AGREES WITH PLACEMENT OFFERED BY 06 UTC RUN OF ETA AND MM5 MDLS.
BOTH MDLS DRIVE FRONT SWRD INTO NERN CO AS TWO SEPERATE SURGES...
THE FIRST REACHING THE DEN METRO AREA ARND 15 UTC...THE SECOND
STGR/WETTER SURGE ARRIVING SOMETIME ARND 17 OR 18 UTC. NOTE...AIR
N OF FNT NOT MUCH COLDER THAN AIR AHEAD OF IT AS CURRENT TEMPS ACRS
CNTRL AND NRN WY ONLY IN THE LOWER 30S. SO NOT SEE A LOT OF COOLING
ONCE FNT PASSES...JUST MORE OF A SHIFT TO NELY WINDS AND A JUMP IN
DEWPTS. MDLS SHOW BEST 850-700 MB QG FRONTGENESIS OVR AND ALG THE
FNT RNG FM 18 UTC TODAY TO 06 UTC TONIGHT. OVRALL MDLS SHOW E-NELY
FLOW UP THRU 700 MBS FOR MUCH OF THE SAME PD. WHEREAS MDLS NOT
SHOWING MUCH UPR LVL QG FORCING OVR CWFA DURING IST PD AS BULK OF
ENERGY ASSOCIATED WITH UPR LVL TRACKING EWRD AWAY FM DESERT SW
SHOULD STAY OVR SRN CO.
BOTTOM LINE...BLV WELL SEE PCPN SPREADING SWRD ACRS THE NERN CO
PLNS WITH THE FRONT ERLY THIS MRNG. ONCE THE FRONT PUSHES UP
AGAINST FTHLS AND THE UPSLOPE DEEPENS SHOULD SEE PCPN BECOMING
WIDESPREAD...WITH THE HEAVIER PCPN RATES IN AND NR THE FTHLS AND ON
THE MONUMENT RIDGE. ANY RAIN SHOULD QUICKLY TURN TO SNOW BUT WITH
ROAD SURFACES STILL WARM FM YESTERDAYS WARM SUNSHINE...DONT BLV
WE/LL SEE ACCUMULATION ON ROADS AT LOWER ELEVATIONS TIL LATER THIS
AFTN. BASED ON MDL SNOW ACCUM GUIDANCE COULD SEE ANYWHERE FM 2-5
INCHES IN AREAS UNDER THE ADVSY BY 00 UTC/SUN...WITH LESSER AMTS ON
THE PLNS. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE UPWARDS OF 8 INCHES IN
OROGRAPHICALLY FAVORED LOCALS IN SRN JEFFERSON...PARK AND DOUGLAS
CTYS. AS FOR THE MTN ZNS...DO NOT SEE MUCH MORE THAN 2-5 INCH
ACCUMULATIONS BY EVE SINCE FORCING FM UPSLOPE NOT EXPECTED TO HV
MUCH OF AN IMPACT...ESPLY IN AREAS WEST OF THE DVD. THUS FOR
NOW...NO ADVSY FOR MTN ZNS 30..32..33 AND 34. BAKER
LONG TERM DISCUSSION...FCST FOR TONIGHT AND SUNDAY WL DEPEND ON
EVENTUAL TRACK AND INTENSITY OF UPR LVL LOW NR LAS VEGAS EARLY THIS
MORNING. AS USUAL MODELS HAVE THEIR DIFFERENCES WHICH ISNT MAKING
THINGS EASY. AT THIS POINT THERE IS SOME CONSENSUS TO KEEP BEST
LAPSE RATES AND MID-LVL QG ASCENT OVR SRN CO THRU SUN HOWEVER AM NOT
TOTALLY CONVINCED MODELS HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON QG FIELDS. BOTH AVN
AND NGM SHOW MDT ELY FLOW AT 700 MB THRU 12Z SUN WITH SPEEDS AROUND
20 KTS OVR NRN CO WHILE MESO-ETA HAS SPEEDS AROUND 10 KTS. IF NGM
AND AVN WIND FIELDS VERIFY THEN COULD SEE DECENT UPSLOPE DRIVEN
SNOWS IN AND NR THE FOOTHILLS TONIGHT BEFORE DIMINISHING BY 12Z
SUN. ON THE OTHER HAND IF WIND FIELDS ARE WEAKER THEN SNOW AMOUNTS
WL BE LESS. SNOW MODEL WOULD YIELD AT LEAST SNOW ADVISORY AMOUNTS
IN THE FOOTHILLS AND EAST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. COULD ALSO SEE
SOME GOOD AMOUNTS IN THE WRN SUBURBS OF URBAN CORRIDOR DEPENDING ON
HOW STG ELY FLOW IS. OVR THE NERN PLAINS IF I WERE TO BELIEVE
POSITION OF UPR LVL LOW BY 12Z THEN COULD SEE SOME HEAVY SNOWS IN
ZNS 46 AND 47 WHERE BETTER QG ASCENT IS FCST SO WL ISSUE A WINTER
STORM WATCH FOR THE LIMON AREA FOR TONIGHT INTO SUN. OVR THE REST
OF THE NERN PLAINS WL NOT ISSUE ANY HIGHLIGHTS.
ON SUN UPR LVL LOW WL IS FCST TO MOVE INTO WRN KS BY LATE AFTN.
COULD STILL SEE SOME WRAP AROUND SNOWS OCCUR OVR THE NERN PLAINS
THRU THE AFTN HRS WHICH SHOULD DIMINISH BY EVENING. FLOW IN THE
MTNS WL BECOME MORE NLY ON SUN NGT AND WITH LINGERING MSTR COULD
STILL SEE SOME LINGERING -SHSN.
IN EXTENDED PD FLOW ALOFT WL BECOME NNWLY ON MON. ANOTHER
DISTURBANCE IS FCST TO MOVE OVR NRN CO BY MON AFTN AND EVENING.
THIS SYSTEM HAS GOOD SUPPORT IN QG FIELDS AND WITH LASPE RATES INCRG
TO 8 C/KM BY AFTN COULD SEE INCRG SN IN THE MTNS WITH SOME SHSN
DVLPG ALONG THE FNT RANGE AS WELL BY LATE AFTN. FOR TUE AND WED
NWLY FLOW WL CONT WITH A CHC OF SN IN THE MTNS WITH MAINLY DRY
CONDITIONS OVR LOWER ELEVATIONS ALTHOUGH IT IS MARCH AND WITH NWLY
FLOW ALOFT THERE IS ALWAYS A CHC OF A SURPRISE OR TWO. BY THU AND
FRI LATEST MRF DVLPS ANOTHER UPR LVL TROF OVR WRN US WHICH MAY BRING
MORE UNSETTLED WX TO THE AREA IF ITS CORRECT. LATEST EMCWF SHOWS A
SIMILAR PTRN SO MAYBE THE MRFS SOLUTION ISNT TOO FAR FETCHED.
KLEYLA
.DEN...SNOW ADVISORY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FNT RNG FTHLS...
PARK COUNTY AND N SIDE OF PALMER DVD...ZNS 35>37 AND 41.
WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT AND SUNDAY E-CNTRL CO ZNS 46
AND 47.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 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, March 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: 5233071, 5233072, 5233073, 5233074, 5233075, 5233076, 5233077, 5233078.