Heavy Snow in Colorado, March 1, 2002

Name: Heavy Snow in Colorado, March 1, 2002
Start: 2002-03-01T02:30
End: 2002-03-01T15:00
Location: Colorado

March 1, 2002 · NWS PUB · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

4 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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 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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 28, 9:30 PM MST, 5 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 9:30 PM MST, 5 hours before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO COLORADO
930 PM MST THU FEB 28 2002

COLD AIR MAKING ITS MOVE SOUTH WITH SFC LOW SPINNING UP ALONG THE NM
BORDER WEST OF KSPD. ENHANCED CLOUDS OVER NRN CO BEGINNING TO
PRODUCE -SN ALONG AND NORTH OF I70. QUICK LOOK AT NEW 00Z MODEL
RUNS INDICATE CURRENT FCSTS AND HIGHLIGHTS ARE ON TRACK...WITH BEST
LIFT CENTERED AROUND 18Z FRI. SUSPECT BIG WINNER IN SNOWFALL MAY BE
ALONG THE PALMER DIVIDE...AND OVER THE SOUTHERN SANGRES NEAR
CUCHARA...AS BOTH LOCATIONS DO WELL WITH N-NE FLOW. SOMEWHAT
CONCERNED THAT 700 MB FLOW MAY BECOME TOO NRLY DURING THE DAY FRI...
LIMITING HEAVY SNOW POTENTIAL OVER THE WETS AND NRN SANGRES. KCOS AND
KPUB AREAS A QUESTION AS WELL AS NRLY DOWNSLOPE COULD QUICKLY KILL
-SN AS HINTED AT BY THE ETA. STILL...WITH GOOD DYNAMIC LIFT EXPECT
SNOWFALL AMOUNTS TO REACH AT LEAST THE LOW END OF CURRENT FCST
RANGES...SO WONT TINKER WITH MUCH.

WILL TRY TO GET UPDATED WSW AND ZFP OUT BY 10 PM.

PUB...WINTER STORM WARNING 059-059-065-067>072 TONIGHT THRU FRI EVE
      WINTER STORM WARNING 073 LATE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING
      WINTER STORM WARNING 066-074-075 EARLY FRI MORNING THRU LATE
       FRI NIGHT
      SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY 076>081 EARLY FRI MORN THRU LATE
       FRI NIGHT

PETERSEN

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains

When: March 1, 2:30 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.778, -106.530 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Arctic air pushing south across the region combined with an upper level system moving across northern New Mexico produced heavy snow across portions of southern Colorado. Some of the heavier amounts include: In Fremont county...12 miles northeast of Texas Creek received 6 inches...around Beulah in Pueblo county 8 inches was noted...in Huerfano county...6 to 7 inches was measured in and around Walsenburg with 10 to 11 inches of snow accumulating at La Veta and Cuchara. Lesser amounts from 1 to 4 inches were logged from the Colorado Springs areas into the Upper Arkansas River Valley.

Heavy Snow, Western Fremont and Northern Custer Counties

When: March 1, 2:30 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Western Fremont and Northern Custer Counties forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.484, -106.500 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Wet Mountains

When: March 1, 2:30 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Wet Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.578, -106.085 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Upper Huerfano River Basin/Walsenburg and Vicinity

When: March 1, 2:30 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Upper Huerfano River Basin/Walsenburg and Vicinity forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.426, -104.809 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Colorado in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Colorado, March 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: 5285885, 5285886, 5285887, 5285888.