A backcountry skier was killed when she triggered an avalanche on the back side of Aspen Mountain, at an elevation around 9800 feet. The four foot deep soft-slab avalanche traveled about 200 vertical feet and buried the victim under five feet of snow.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 GJT wrote it up.
A backcountry skier was killed when she triggered an avalanche on the back side of Aspen Mountain, at an elevation around 9800 feet. The four foot deep soft-slab avalanche traveled about 200 vertical feet and buried the victim under five feet of snow.
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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 14, 2:18 PM MST, 37 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 218 PM MST THU MAR 14 2002 STORM CENTER MOVED NORTHEAST OF THE CWFA EARLY THIS MORNING WHILE THE JET AXIS HAD MOVED SOUTH OF THE FOUR CORNERS AREA. SNOW CONTINUED ACROSS THE NORTH AND THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...AND TO A LESSER DEGREE...ACROSS THE SAN JUANS. MODELS INDICATE TROF TO REMAIN OVER THE AREA OVERNIGHT WITH SHORTWAVE MOVING ALONG THE CO/NM BORDER AREA. SOUTH IS A BIT MOISTURE STARVED ...SO NOT EXPECTING MUCH ADDITIONAL SNOW AS THIS FEATURE MOVES THROUGH. ACROSS THE NORTH FLOW BECOMES MORE NORTHERLY AND WEAKENS OVERNIGHT SO EXPECT SNOW TO DIMINISH WITH LOSS OF INSOLATION AND LACK OF DYNAMIC SUPPORT. THEREFORE...WILL LET WSW IN PLACE NORTH EXPIRE. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL BE CHILLY AND WILL HAVE TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WESTERN ZONES WHERE CLOUDS LESS PREVALENT. FLOW BACKS TO WEST-SOUTHWEST ON FRIDAY AS STRONG JET DIGS SOUTH ALONG THE WEST COAST DURING THE DAY. WEAK WARM ADVECTION BEGINS... HOWEVER 7H TEMPS STILL QUITE COLD FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR (-8 TO -12 DEG/C) SO TEMPERATURES TO REMAIN COOL. AMPLE RESIDUAL MOISTURE ACROSS THE AREA AND LAPSE RATES STILL FAIRLY STEEP OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS WHERE COLD POOL ALOFT PERSISTS. DYNAMICS LACKING BUT... EXPECT SOME AFTERNOON SNOW SHOWERS TO DEVELOP FROM LATE MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON WITH LOW CHANCE FOR THE LOWER ELEVATIONS NORTH. DIGGING JET TURNS EAST FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY WITH MOIST WEST-SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW MOVING OVER THE AREA ALONG WITH A FEW DISTURBANCES. SYSTEM ILL-DEFINED AT THIS POINT AND TIMING OF DISTURBANCES PROBLEMATIC. THEREFORE...WILL CONTINUE WITH SNOW CHANCE IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH LOW POPS AT LOWER ELEVATIONS. TEMPERATURES TO REMAIN BELOW NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR...THOUGH MAV GUIDANCE MAY BE A BIT COOL AND FWC A BIT OPTIMISTIC...SO WILL SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE. NL EXTENDED (SUN-THU)...UNSETTLED PATTERN SHOULD CONTINUE. MRF DEPICTS A DEEP UPPER 5170 M LOW DEVELOPING OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST BY THE END OF THE WEEKEND. MOIST PACIFIC AIR AND A -39 C ASSOCIATED COLD POOL WILL KEEP THE AREA SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE. THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK SHOULD SEE THIS SYSTEM TRACKING SOUTHEASTWARD...THE FIRST OF MANY IN A BROAD WEST COAST UPPER LOW. NO REAL DEFINITIVE DAY-TO-DAY CHANGES, SO WILL BROADBRUSH MOST OF THE EXTENDED TO INDICATE A COOL, CLOUDY AND MOIST PERIOD. BA .GJT...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, Gore and Elk Mountains/Central Mountain Valleys | 2002-03-14 | 39 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
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, March 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: 5285062.