High winds developed over portions of the northern mountains and Front Range Foothills. Several trees were blown down in Gilpin County, along State Highways 119 and 46.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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 developed over portions of the northern mountains and Front Range Foothills. Several trees were blown down in Gilpin County, along State Highways 119 and 46. In Estes Park, a shed was destroyed. Debris from the shed also damaged a nearby vehicle. Peak wind reports included: 104 mph (90 kts) at Carter Lake, 99 mph (86 kts), 2.5 miles north of Estes Park, 90 mph (78 kts), 11 miles north of Central City, 83 mph (72 kts), 1 mile north of Fritz Peak, 81 mph (70 kts) atop Niwot Ridge, 80 mph (70 kts) at Nederland, 76 mph (66 kts) at Aspen Springs, 72 mph (63 kts), 10 miles northeast of Kremmling and 71 mph (62 kts) at Breckenridge Ski Area.
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 20, 2:35 PM MST, 3 hours earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
235 PM MST SUN JAN 20 2002
SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: ELEMENTS TO DEAL WITH IN SHORT TERM ARE
POTENTIAL FOR HIGH WINDS WINDS...AND SNOW CHANCES FOR MOUNTAINS.
FIRST THE WINDS...STRONGEST WINDS CURRENTLY CONFINED TO HIGHEST
MOUNTAIN PASSES...SOME GUSTS TO 65 MPH AT NIWOT RIDGE. FOOTHILLS
AND FRONT RANGE AREAS SEEING OCCASIONAL SURGES OF GUSTY WINDS...
NOTHING TO GET EXCITED ABOUT. LATEST MODEL RUNS INDICATE INCREASE
IN WINDS BY 06Z...WITH MESO ETA SHOWING CROSS BARRIER COMPONENT
INCREASING TO 50 KTS. CRITICAL LAYER AND SHEAR ALOFT ALL PROGGED TO
BECOME FAVORABLE FOR HIGH WINDS...ALTHOUGH NOT IDEAL. IN
ADDITION...UPWARD FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH APPROACHING DISTURBANCE
COULD HINDER HIGH WINDS POTENTIAL. AS IN THE PAST FEW RUNS...THE MM5
GETS REALLY EXCITED ABOUT HIGH WINDS. OBVOUSLY THOSE RUNS DID NOT
VERIFY...AND THROWS A BIT MORE DOUBT IN UPGRADING THE WATCH TO A
HIGH WIND WARNING. HOWEVER...WITH THE OTHER MODELS STILL SHOWING
WARNING POTENTIAL...AND WITH COORDINATION WITH PUEBLO...WILL GO WITH
A HIGH WIND WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH 18Z MONDAY FOR ZONES
33..34...35 AND 36. BEST TIME FRAME FOR HIGH WINDS SHOULD BE FROM
06Z TO 12Z. BY 18Z...WINDS ALOFT DECREASE AND THREAT FOR HIGH WINDS
SHOULD END THOUGH WILL STILL BE WINDY. AS FOR FRONT RANGE
AREAS...CROSS SECTIONS KEEP HIGH WIND THREAT OUT OF AREA. SO DONT
SEE ANY CHANCE FOR HIGH WINDS...THOUGH GUSTS TO 50 MPH POSSIBLE
WESTERN AREAS THROUGH THE MORNING. WINDS TO DECREASE BY 18Z...AS
GRIDDED WIND FORECASTS SHOW SOUTHERLY COMPONENT.
NOW FOR MOUNTAIN SNOWS...JUST SOME AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW CURRENTLY...
WITH LITTLE OF ANY ACCUMULATIONS. CROSS SECTIONS INCREASE MOISTURE
DEPTH BY 03Z AND DISTURBANCE WILL PROVIDE SOME FORCING OVERNIGHT.
SO SOME SNOW ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED THROUGH MONDAY MORNING DESPITE
MEAGER LAPSE RATES. SNOW MODEL YIELDS ABOUT 2 INCHES...WHICH LOOKS
REASONABLE. SOME SNOW SHOWERS TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY...MAYBE
ANOTHER INCH. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW A GOOD POSSIBILITY.
AS FOR TEMPERATURES...7OO MB TEMPERATURES WARM TO NEAR ZERO DEGREES
CELSIUS BY 00Z TUESDAY. THIS SHOULD EQUATE TO AROUND 50 DEGREES ON
THE PLAINS...WHICH FALLS IN LINE WITH GUIDANCE. D-L
LONG TERM DISCUSSION: MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO DECREASE IN THE
MOUNTAINS MON NIGHT BUT WINDS WILL CONTINUE...SO SOME SNOW WILL
LIKELY PERSIST. REASONABLE AGREEMENT IN MODELS WITH THE NEXT SYSTEM.
ALL ARE TRENDING TOWARD A FASTER...WEAKER AND MORE SHEARED WAVE.
ETA IS A BIT MORE SO THAN THE AVN AND WILL GO WITH IT. THE RESULT
IS THE COLD FRONT ARRIVING SOONER...TUE AFTERNOON...BUT WITH
SHALLOWER UPSLOPE AND LESS QG FORCING ABOVE IT TUE NIGHT. STILL
LOOKS LIKE A TYPICAL LITTLE SNOW BUT IF IT IS EVEN WEAKER WE COULD
LOSE THE UPSLOPE...SO 30-40 PERCENT POPS FOR NOW. IF THE CURRENT
MODEL TIMING IS RIGHT WE SHOULD BE CLEARING DURING THE DAY...BUT IT
WILL BE COLD AND BREEZY WITH 700 MB TEMPS DOWN TO AROUND -18.
CONTINUED COLD WITH NW FLOW FOR THU/FRI. LEE TROUGH WILL BRING
WARMING ALONG THE FOOTHILLS FIRST...THEN SPREADING ONTO THE PLAINS.
SNOW COVER WOULD LIMIT THE WARMING PARTICULARLY ON THU. AS FLOW
ALOFT BACKS TO SW FOR THE WEEKEND IT SHOULD REMAIN MILD. GIMMESTAD
.DEN...HIGH WIND WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY MORNING FOR
MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS...ZONES 33>36.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 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: 5279402, 5279403, 5279404, 5279405.