Avalanche, Northwestern San Juan Mountains
- When
- April 5, 6:15 PM MST to 6:20 PM MST
- Where
- Northwestern San Juan Mountains forecast zone
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 38.210, -107.755 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Avalanche in Colorado, April 5, 2002
An avalanche on Red Mountain Pass covered a 40 foot stretch of Highway 550 with 3 to 4 feet of snow and blocked traffic for about one hour.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.
An avalanche on Red Mountain Pass covered a 40 foot stretch of Highway 550 with 3 to 4 feet of snow and blocked traffic for about one hour.
What forecasters said that day
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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 5, 2:02 PM MST, 4 hours 13 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 5, 2:02 PM MST, 4 hours 13 minutes before
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 202 PM MST FRI APR 5 2002 SCATTERED CUMULUS...VIRGA AND SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS ACROSS THE CWFA THIS AFTERNOON ASSOCIATED WITH A SHORTWAVE MOVING NORTHEAST ACROSS FROM THE FOUR-CORNERS AREA. SHORTWAVE WEAKENS AS IT DRIFTS EAST OVERNIGHT...SO OTHER THAN SOME SPRINKLES EARLY...EXPECT PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES TONIGHT. PACIFIC TROF DRIFTS EASTWARD ACROSS THE REGION DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD WITH THE ETA A TAD FASTER THAN THE AVN. EVEN SO... APPEARS LESS COOLING ON SATURDAY AS REGION REMAINS PREFRONTAL WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE EASTERN UINTAS LATE IN THE DAY. CONSEQUENTLY... BOOSTED TEMPERATURES MOST AREAS AND KEPT POPS LOW AND CONFINED LARGELY TO THE MOUNTAIN AREAS AND NORTHWEST LOWER ELEVATION ZONES WHICH MAY BE IMPACTED BY APPROACHING FRONT. ENOUGH INSTABILITY FOR CONTINUED MENTION OF THUNDERSTORMS. TROF EASES ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY BRINGING AN INCREASE IN MOISTURE...BUT BULK OF DYNAMICS PASSES SOUTH OF THE CWFA. CONSEQUENTLY...CONFINED SCATTERED POPS TO FRONTAL BOUNDARY WHICH SHIFTS INTO THE CENTRAL PORTION OF COLORADO BEFORE IT BEGINS TO WASH OUT. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION FOR THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS SATURDAY NIGHT REDUCED DUE TO DIURNAL COOLING AND WEAKENING FRONTAL BOUNDARY. DRYING BEGINS IN NORTHWEST FLOW ON SUNDAY...THOUGH ENOUGH OF RESIDUAL MOISTURE FOR CONTINUED MENTION OF MOUNTAIN SHOWERS. COOLER TEMPERATURES ANTICIPATED AS 7H READINGS DIP ON THE ORDER OF 4 DEGREES CELSIUS. AVN MOS GUIDANCE LOOKS A BIT COOL SO WILL GENERALLY GO ABOVE. EXPECT PARTIAL CLEARING ON SUNDAY NIGHT WITH COOLER OVERNIGHT LOWS. NL MONDAY-FRIDAY...DRY RIDGING TAKES OVER MON WITH WARMER CONDITIONS THROUGH TUE. NEXT PACIFIC SYSTEM PROGGED TO MOVE THROUGH THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST WED...FOLLOWED BY BRIEF SHORTWAVE RIDGING THU. CAN NO LONGER IGNORE WEDS TROUGH AND WILL ADD SLIGHT CHANCE TO MOUNTAINS. OTHER MODELS ADD SUPPORT TO THE MRF...EXCEPT THE NOGAPS WHICH KEEPS CONDITIONS DRY. THE MRF BRINGS MOIST PACIFIC FLOW OVER THE REGION ON FRI. WHILE CONFIDENCE IS LOW AT THIS TIME WILL MENTION SLIGHT CHANCE MOUNTAINS AND POSSIBLY NORTH. .GJT...NONE.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Avalanche
- A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Colorado in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2002
Sources
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: 5289463.