Heavy snow fell across portions of the North Central Mountains, Front Range Foothills and South Park. Storm totals included: 11 inches at Berthoud Ski Area, 10 inches around Fairplay, with 8 inches at Eldora Ski Resort and Allenspark.
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.
Heavy snow fell across portions of the North Central Mountains, Front Range Foothills and South Park. Storm totals included: 11 inches at Berthoud Ski Area, 10 inches around Fairplay, with 8 inches at Eldora Ski Resort and Allenspark.
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 16, 3:00 PM MST, 5 hours earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
300 PM MST FRI MAR 16 2001
SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: CURRENT RADAR INDICATING SNOW INCREASING IN
THE HIGH COUNTY. DECENT DENVER CYCLONE GOING RIGHT NOW AS WELL.
WATER VAPOR PICTURES SHOWING UPPER LOW TO GET OVER THE FOUR CORNERS
QUICKER THEN THE MODELS INDICATE...MAYBE ABOUT 04-06Z. SEVERAL
INGREDIENTS AVAILABLE TO BRING MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA MEASURABLE
SNOW. THERE IS WEAK SYNOPTIC SCALE FORCING PROGGED OVER MUCH OF THE
FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE FIRST PERIOD...THE FARTHER SOUTH YOU GO
THE STRONGER IT IS. MOISTURES PRETTY DEEP...WITH DECENT UPSLOPE
PROGGED INTO THE SECOND PERIOD. UPSLOPE LOOKS GOOD UP TO THE
DIVIDE...AND THE SNOW MODEL ALONE YIELDED ADVISORY/WARNING AMOUNTS
IN MOST OF THE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS...THEN THE DYNAMICS TO
CONSIDER. SO WARNING LOOKS GOOD FOR 34/36/37...ADVISORY FOR 33/35.
NOTHING RIGHT NOW FOR URBAN CORRIDOR OR PALMER RIDGE ...BUT PALMER
SHOULD BE WATCHED. TEMPERATURES AND THICKNESS GRIDS SHOW READINGS
SIMILAR TO THIS MORNING...BUT WILL GO A BIT WARMER DO TO CLOUDS.
RJK
LONG TERM DISCUSSION: SNOW CONTINUES IN THE MORNING...BUT SHOULD BE
TAPERING OFF FROM THE NORTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON SO HIGHLIGHTS WILL
ONLY EXTEND THROUGH THE MORNING. UPSLOPE WINDS DIE BY AFTERNOON AS
WELL. TEMPERATURES SHOULD HOVER AROUND FREEZING WHERE IT IS
SNOWING...THOUGH THERE COULD BE SOME RISE IN THE AFTERNOON. THERE
LOOKS TO BE A BIT OF A BREAK BEFORE THE NORTHWEST WINDS ALOFT PICK
UP SUN MORNING...THEN WE SHOULD BE WARMING AND DRYING NICELY ON THE
PLAINS WITH SOME LIGHT OROGRAPHIC SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS. IF THE
SNOW FORECAST PANS OUT...TEMPS WILL BE HELD BACK A BIT SUN.
SHORTWAVE FOR TUE SHOULD BRING A BIT OF A SURGE...THOUGH IT MAY BE
OVERDONE IN OUR FORECAST. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS SEEM TO BE STEERING
TOWARD ZONAL FLOW OR UPSTREAM RIDGE BUT I WILL LEAVE THE POPS FOR
THE TIME BEING. COULD BE DRY AND WARMER. GIMMESTAD
.DEN...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT AND SAT MORNING MTNS/FTHLS
WSW OF DENVER...ZNS 34..36..37.
SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT AND SAT MORNING NRN MTNS/FTHLS...
ZNS 33/35.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 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: 5233082, 5233083, 5233084.