High winds were reported across portions of the Northeast Plains of Colorado, near the Wyoming and Nebraska borders. Peak wind gusts included 63 mph (55 kts) at Hereford and 58 mph (50 kts), 21 miles north of New Raymer and 4 miles east of Haxtun.
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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 were reported across portions of the Northeast Plains of Colorado, near the Wyoming and Nebraska borders. Peak wind gusts included 63 mph (55 kts) at Hereford and 58 mph (50 kts), 21 miles north of New Raymer and 4 miles east of Haxtun.
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 15, 3:45 AM MST, 8 hours 15 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 345 AM MST THU MAR 15 2001 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: MAIN UPR LVL LOW NOW OVR NRN OK WITH SHEAR AXIS EXTENDING BACK INTO ERN CO. AREAS OF MAINLY -SN CONT JUST WEST OF THIS AXIS OVR PTNS OF NERN PLAINS FM AKO TO LIC. DECENT MID-LVL QG ASCENT CURRENTLY OVR NERN CO IS FCST TO SHIFT SE OF AREA BY 15Z AND THEN BE REPLACED BY DOWNWARD DESCENT. AS THIS OCCURS SN SHOULD DIMINISH OVR NRN PLAINS BY MID MORNING. WNDS WL CONT TO BE A PBLM THIS MORNING PRODUCING AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW OVR NERN PLAINS. LATEST PLATTEVILLE PROFILER SHOWS GOOD CRITICAL LYR OVR AREA WHICH IS FCST TO CONT THRU THE MORNING HRS SO WL LIKELY SEE SOME GUSTS TO 50 MPH THRU THE MORNING HRS BUT WNDS SHOULD BEGIN TO DIMINISH BY LATE MORNING AS SFC GRADIENT BEGINS TO WKN. IF PCPN WAS MORE WDSPRD AND FCST TO CONT THRU MIDDAY THEN WOULD ISSUE A BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY HOWEVER PCPN AREA HAS BEEN FAIRLY CONCENTRATED OVR ZNS 44..45..46 AND 49 SO WL JUST COVER SITUATION WITH NOWCASTS. IN THE MTNS CROSS-SECTIONS SHOW MID-LVL MSTR DECREASING HOWEVER ENOUGH LOW LVL MSTR WL EXIST AND WITH LAPSE RATES AROUND 7 C/KM EXPECT SOME OROGRAPHIC SN THRU THE DAY. ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS SHOULD BE BLO ADVISORY CRITERIA SO WL NOT EXTEND CURRENT HIGHLIGHT. KLEYLA LONG TERM DISCUSSION: PAC SYSTEMS CONTINUE TO MARCH ALONG A STRONG NRN STREAM...WITH THE LATEST WAVE NOW RACING E-SEWRD ACRS KS. IN RETROSPECT...MODELS PRETTY MUCH MISSED ARRIVAL TIME OF PAC FRONTAL PASSAGE IN THE DEN AREA YESTERDAY BY SOME 4-6 HRS. WILL KP THIS IN MIND WHEN TIMING ARRIVAL OF NEXT SYSTEM THIS FRI AFTN/NGT. STG ERN PAC WAVE NOW COMING ONSHORE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA DRIVEN BY 130+KT JET. AVN...NOGAPS AND ETA MODELS SHOW CORE OF PAC JET ROUNDING TOP OF A MODERATELY FLAT W COAST UPR RIDGE AND DRIVING SEWRD INTO THE GREAT BASIN AS PROGS BY RECENT RUNS OF THE AVN AND MRF. ERLIER RUNS OF THE NOGAPS...ECMWF AND CANADIAN MODELS SHOWED THIS WAVE CRESTING A HIGH AMPLITUDE WEST RIDGE AND DIVING SWRD ALG THE WEST COAST. NOW LATEST RUN OF NOGAPS...CANADIAN AND ECMWF LOOKING MORE LIKE THE AVN/MRF SOLUTION. STILL THE EWRD PROGRESS OF THIS WAVE MAY BE UNDERESTIMATED SINCE THE MODELS REALLY NEVER SHOW WAVE CLOSING OFF TIL IT ARRIVES IN THE FOUR CORNERS AREA FRI NGT. OVRALL BOTH THE SHORT AND MEDIUM RANGE MODELS ARE IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT OUT THRU 48 HRS. EVEN SO...CONFIDENCE IN THE MDLS IN HANDLING THIS NEXT SYSTEM STILL ON THE LOW SIDE SINCE THEIR TRACK RECORD WITH DIGGING WEST COAST SYSTEMS HAS NOT BEEN GOOD PAST SVRL WEEKS. KEEPING ALL THAT IN MIND...A CONSENSUS OF THE MODELS SHOWS A MID/UPR LVL WAV CLOSING OFF OVR SRN CO/NRN NM BY 12Z/SAT...PUTTING NERN CO IN AN E-SELY FLOW FOR SOME 12-24 HRS. FURTHERMORE...DO NOT SEE A LOT OF COLD AIR WITH THIS SYSTEM WITH H7 TEMPS ONLY PROGD TO DROP INTO THE -8 TO -10C RANGE BY SAT AFTN. AVN SHOWS A CLOSED H5 LOW OVR SERN CO BY 18Z/SAT...BUT DO NOT SEE MUCH OF A CYCLONIC CIRCULATION IN LAYERS BELOW H5. STRONGEST QG ASCENT BTWN H7 AND H3 LVLS IS CURRENTLY PROGD TO PASS S OF CO ON SAT. HWVR THIS MIGHT CHANGE SHOULD THIS SYSTEM NOT DIVE AS FAR S INTO THE GREAT BASIN AS IS NOW PROGD BY AVN AND MRF. AT ANY RATE..IT NOW APRS THAT THERE WL BE ENOUGH LOW/MID LVL MSTR...INSTABILITY AND OROGRAPHIC LIFT TO SQUEEZE OUT A FEW INCHES OF SNOW ON THE PLNS BY SAT EVE. COULD SEE HIGHER AMTS IN AND ALG THE FNT RNG FTHLS AND MONUMENT RIDGE AS WOULD BE THE CASE WITH UPSLOPE FLOW. STILL WAY TOO ERLY TO GO WITH ANY WX HIGHLIGHTS. AGAIN...IF SYSTEM SHOULD ACCELERATE...COULD SEE ONSET OF MTN SNOWFALL AS ERLY AS FRI MRNG AND SCT RN SHWRS/ISOLD TSTMS BREAKING OUT ON THE PLAINS BY FRI AFTN. LOOKING AHEAD TO THE PD SUN THRU WED...AVN AND MRF SHOW ANOTHER SHOT OF SNOWFALL FOR THE MTNS LATE SUN AND MON. COULD SEE SOME FAIRLY DECENT SNOW AMTS ON W FACING SLOPES DUE TO STG OROGRAPHIC FORCING. IF MODELS ANYWHERE CLOSE TO REALITY SHOULD SEE MTN SNOWFALL SHUTTING DOWN PRETTY QUICK DURING THE DAY MON WITH STG MID-LVL WARMING AND RIDGING. BEYOND THAT...S EE DRY AND MILD CDNTNS FOR THE PLNS AND BOUTS OF WIND AND SNOW SHWR ACTVTY FOR THE HI COUNTRY WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STG ZONAL FLOW. BAKER .DEN...NONE.
COZ030-032>050-152100- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 11 AM MST THURSDAY MARCH 15 2001 THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES ADAMS ARAPAHOE BOULDER CLEAR CREEK DENVER DOUGLAS ELBERT GILPIN GRAND JACKSON JEFFERSON LARIMER LINCOLN LOGAN MORGAN PARK PHILLIPS SEDGWICK SUMMIT WASHINGTON WELD SYNOPSIS: LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER EASTERN KANSAS CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST WITH ITS INFLUENCE ON NORTHEAST COLORADO SLOWLY WANING. BRISK NORTHERLY WINDS WILL BLOW OVER THE NORTH-CENTRAL MOUNTAINS ...FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND NORTHEAST PLAINS TODAY BUT WILL BE FADING AWAY AS HIGH PRESSURE AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT BUILDS OVER THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE AIRMASS WILL BECOME DRYER AND MORE STABLE AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. MAIN WEATHER ELEMENT TODAY WILL BE GUSTY NORTHERLY WINDS IN MOST AREAS. THE WINDS WILL SLOWLY SUBSIDE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SPEEDS WILL RANGE FROM 15 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH ON THE EASTERN PLAINS AS WELL AS THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGHER FOOTHILLS. LIGHT SNOW WILL LINGER OVER NORTH FACING SLOPES OF THE M0UNTAINS FROM ABOUT LOVELAND PASS NORTH...BUT SHOULD END BY EARLY EVENING. OUTLOOK FOR FRIDAY...INITIALLY WILL BE TRANQUIL WITH MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES DURING THE MORNING...BUT CLOUDS WILL BE INCREASING IN THE AFTERNOON WITH A FEW SNOW SHOWERS DEVELOPING...MORE NUMEROUS OVER THE MOUNTAINS. THE CLOUDS AND SHOWERS WILL BE THE RESULT OF THE NEXT PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM APPROACHING COLORADO FROM THE WEST. BOODA
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 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, 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: 5233080, 5233081.