A strong weather system produced high winds across a large part of southeastern Colorado. the highest being 74 mph at Ramah in northeastern El Paso county.
Every event with a place to put it; 10 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 PUB wrote it up.
A strong weather system produced high winds across a large part of southeastern Colorado. The highest wind gusts were between 58 mph and 74 mph in southeastern Colorado...the highest being 74 mph at Ramah in northeastern El Paso county. Isolated high winds were also noted near La Garita in the northwestern San Luis Valley...where the winds gusted to 79 mph briefly. In addition to the high winds...brief heavy snowfall occurred over northern El Paso county...which caused local blizzard conditions.
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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 9, 2:51 AM MST, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO COLORADO 251 AM MST SAT FEB 9 2002 MAIN WEATHER ISSUE ARE WINDS MOST AREAS AND SNOW POTENTIAL FAR SOUTHEAST PLAINS TODAY. MAJORITY OF CWFA CURRENTLY NOTING VARIABLE CLOUDS...GUSTY GENERALLY NORTHWEST WINDS IN THE 20 TO 40 MPH RANGE AND FAIRLY MILD EARLY MORNING EARLY FEBRUARY TEMPERATURES. SATELLITE AND 00Z/9TH ETA INDICATES STRENGTHENING UPPER LOW OVER KANSAS WHICH SHIFTS EAST INTO ILLINOIS BY SUNDAY MORNING AS SOME UPPER RIDGING BUILDS INTO CWFA. 700 MB GRADIENT AND FAVORABLE OMEGA VALUES SUPPORT HIGH WIND WARNING EASTERN PLAINS TODAY AND WILL LET EXISTING HIGH WIND WARNING CONTINUE. STRONG WINDS MAY CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY FAR EASTERN PLAINS...BUT FOR THE MOMENT WILL NOT EXTEND HIGH WIND WARNING PAST TODAY...DAY CREW WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR LATEST REAL-TIME DATA AS WELL AS MODEL DATA. ALSO...BRIEF LIVED FAVORABLE ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE AND ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE NOTED TODAY...ESPECIALLY PORTIONS OF SOUTHEASTERN PLAINS...THEREFORE WILL INSERT SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WITH LOCAL ACCUMULATIONS...GENERALLY UNDER 2 INCHES. 00Z/9TH AVN SUGGESTS THAT ZONAL TO NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT PREVAILS MONDAY INTO WEDNESDAY WITH LIMITED UPPER ENERGY. POPS GENERALLY NIL THIS TIME-FRAME WHILE TEMPERATURES SHOULD RUN AT OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE CLIMATOLOGY WITH MONDAY THE WARMEST DAY. WINDS APPEAR TO REMAIN RELATIVELY TRANQUIL MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. FROM LATER WEDNESDAY INTO FRIDAY...THE AVN/ECMWF AND MRF PROJECT UPPER LOW OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY...WHICH THEN MOVES ACROSS NORTHERN NEW MEXICO FRIDAY PER MRF. THIS SCENARIO WOULD BE FAVORABLE FOR SOME PRECIPITATION OVER AT LEAST SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF CWFA FRIDAY...BUT CONFIDENCE IS LOW SINCE THIS IS DAY SEVEN AND ECMWF IS FURTHER SOUTH WITH THIS SYSTEM...THEREFORE WILL KEEP NEXT FRIDAY DRY FOR NOW. TEMPERATURES FOR WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SHOULD REMAIN SLIGHTLY ABOVE CLIMATOLOGICAL AVERAGES. .PUB...HIGH WIND WARNING TODAY ZONES 71/72/73/76/77/78/79/80/81.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
10 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: 5283249, 5283254, 5283257, 5283258, 5283251, 5283253, 5283250, 5283255, 5283256, 5283252.