High winds developed across portions of the Front Range Foothills during the early morning hours. 5 miles north of Estes Park and 75 mph (65 kt) at Red Feather Lakes.
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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 developed across portions of the Front Range Foothills during the early morning hours. Peak wind reports included: 84 mph (73 kt), 11 miles north of Central City, 82 mph (71 kt), 2.5 miles north of Estes Park and 75 mph (65 kt) at Red Feather Lakes.
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 Feb 13, 2:17 PM MST, 10 hours 38 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 217 PM MST WED FEB 13 2002 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION...LEE TROUGH CURRENTLY HANGING TIGHT AGAINST FOOTHILLS THIS AFTERNOON WITH SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW OVER THE NORTHEAST PLAINS. THE WEAK UPPER LVL RIDGE OVER THE GREAT BASIN AND CENTRAL ROCKIES WILL BECOME FLATTENDED BY 12Z THUR AND WILL EVENTUALLY BE REPLACED BY A DEVELOPING PAC TROUGH. WINDS SPEEDS ALOFT LATE TONIGHT MAX OUT AROUND 50 KTS IN THE 600-500MB LVL BUT MESOETA DOESNT BRING THE STRONG WINDS BELOW THIS 600MB LVL. WILL JUST MENTION STRONG WINDS FOR MTNS AND FOOTHILLS ZNS TONIGHT. THE ADVERTIZED TROUGH IS EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY DROP SOUTHWARD OUT OF THE BC/ALBERTA AREA AND INTO NRN COLO BY 15Z THUR. TODAYS MORNING MDLS INCLUDE MORE ENERGY ON THE BACKSIDE OF THIS TROUGH THAN PREVIOUS RUNS HAD AND SUGGESTS THE CENTER OF THE UPPER TROUGH PASSING OVER SLC AND GJT INSTEAD OF THE NRTHEAST PLAINS BY THUR AFTERNOON. THIS MAY ALLOW FOR A LONGER PERIOD AND BETTER DIRECTION OF NORTHEAST SFC FLOW ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON. FCST SOUNDINGS BECOME SATURATED ALONG THE URBAN CORRIDOR AND POINTS WEST BY 00Z FRI BUT NOT SO ON THE PLAINS. WILL KEEP THE CURRENT POPS FOR THURSDAY THE WAY THEY ARE FROM PREVIOUS FCST AS THE BRUNT OF THE SYSTEM STILL LOOKS TO BE IN THE THURSDAY NIGHT PERIOD. FREDIN LONG TERM DISCUSSION: SHORT WAVE ALONG THE BRITISH COLUMBIA/ALBERTA BORDER WILL BE APPROACHING THE WYOMING/COLORADO BORDER BY EARLY THURSDAY EVENING. MODERATE UPWARD FORCING AHEAD OF UPPER LEVEL TROF ALONG WITH 20-25 KT UPSLOPE FLOW FROM NORTH/NORTHEAST SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO PRODUCE SNOW ALONG THE FRONT RANGE...DESPITE INCOMING AIRMASS BEING QUITE DRY. THEREFORE...FARTHER EAST ON THE PLAINS DONT EXPECT ANY PRECIP BY EVENING AS MAIN MOISTURE BAND SHIFTS SOUTHWARD. THESE TYPES OF SCENARIOS ALWAYS SEEM TO PRODUCE THE MOST SNOW OVER THE SOUTHERN FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND THIS ONE SHOULD BE NO DIFFERENT. MESOETA QPF GRIDS ALSO AGREE. TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS FROM THIS SYSTEM EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM NOTHING IN THE NORTHEAST CORNER TO AN INCH OR TWO ALONG AND WEST OF I-25 TO ABOUT 2-6 INCHES IN THE SOUTHERN FOOTHILLS AND SKI AREAS. MODELS HAVE BEEN SLOWING THE SYSTEM DOWN A BIT BUT MAIN PRECIP EVENT SHOULD BE WINDING DOWN BY MIDNIGHT WITH CLEARING SKIES BY DAYBREAK. FRIDAY WILL BE LEFT WITH SUNNY SKIES BUT COLD START TO THE DAY... SOME SNOW COVER...AND COLD TEMPS ALOFT MEAN HIGHS ONLY ABOUT 40F. BEST WARMUP RESERVED FOR SATURDAY WITH AMPLE SUNSHINE...WARM ADVECTION ALOFT...AND DOWNSLOPE FLOW LEADING TO HIGHS IN THE MID 50S. SIMILAR TEMPS EXPECTED SUNDAY BUT A LITTLE MORE CLOUD COVER IN ADVANCE OF NEXT STORM. WILL INCLUDE A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS MOUNTAINS WITH SOME MID LEVEL MOISTURE BUT OROGRAPHICALLY POOR SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. ALL MEDIUM RANGE MODELS...EXCEPT THE CANADIAN...POINT TO A RATHER SIGNIFICANT TROUGH OVER THE FOUR CORNERS AREA BY MONDAY. WILL CONTINUE THE CHANCE OF SNOW IN ALL AREAS MONDAY WITH POSSIBILITY OF LINGERING SNOW OVER THE NORTHEAST CORNER TUESDAY IF SYSTEM WINDS UP ENOUGH. THEN A PERIOD OF NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT NEXT WEEK WITH SEASONAL TEMPS. BARJENBRUCH .DEN...NONE.
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 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, February 2002
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: 5283310, 5283311.