High winds occurred over portions of the northern mountains and eastern foothills. Peak wind reports included: 85 mph (75 kts) atop Niwot Ridge, 74 mph (64 kts) at NCAR Mesa Lab and 71 mph (62 kts) at Eldora Ski Resort.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
High winds occurred over portions of the northern mountains and eastern foothills. Peak wind reports included: 85 mph (75 kts) atop Niwot Ridge, 74 mph (64 kts) at NCAR Mesa Lab and 71 mph (62 kts) at Eldora Ski Resort.
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 Jan 18, 8:45 PM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
845 PM MST FRI JAN 18 2002
SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: SPATIAL CROSS-SECTIONS FROM THE LATEST MODEL
DATA STILL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AMPLIFIED MOUNTAIN WAVE
LATE TNGT AND SATURDAY MORNING...BTWN 09Z AND 15Z. AM DOUBTFUL
HOWEVER THAT THIS AMPLIFIED WAVE WILL AFFECT THE LOWER ELEVATION
ZONES...SPECIFICALLY ZONES 38 AND 39. I HAVE DECIDED TO DROP THE
HIGH WIND WATCH IN THESE AREAS BUT KEEP PEAK GUSTS JUST BLO WARNING
CRITERIA. RMNDR OF THE HIGHLIGHTS STILL LOOK GOOD. COOPER
.DEN...HIGH WIND WARNING TONIGHT FROM MIDNIGHT THROUGH MID
MORNING SATURDAY FOR ZONES 33/34/35/36.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, January 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: 5279400, 5279401.