A band of heavy snow extended from near Tabernash in southeastern Grand County to Greeley in central Weld County. A storm spotter near Tabernash measured 13 inches of snow.
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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.
A band of heavy snow extended from near Tabernash in southeastern Grand County to Greeley in central Weld County. A storm spotter near Tabernash measured 13 inches of snow. Storm totals ranged from 5 to 9 inches around Fort Collins, with up to 6.5 inches reported in the Greeley 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 Nov 1, 4:18 AM MST, 10 hours 42 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 415 AM MST FRI NOV 1 2002 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: LOTS OF QUESTIONS WITH FEW ANSWERS THIS MORNING. THERE WAS A BIG BURST OF BANDED SNOW ALONG THE FRONT RANGE DURING THE LATE EVENING HOURS WHICH PROPAGATED ACROSS THE PLAINS...BUT IS NOW LEAVING COLORADO. THERE IS STILL A SHALLOW SHOWER BAND THAT EXTENDS BACK TO AROUND GRAND JUNCTION...BUT MUCH QUESTION AS TO WHETHER THE SHOWERS WILL SURVIVE. FOR THE MOMENT THEY SEEM TO BE DYING COMING OFF THE HILLS. IN ANY EVENT...THE HEAVY SNOW THREAT APPEARS TO HAVE WANED WITH THE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF THE MOUNTAINS AND THERE ONLY FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS. SO THE WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES CAN DIE. THERE SHOULD STILL BE FAIRLY WIDESPREAD LIGHT SNOW/FLURRIES FROM THE STRATUS LAYER. SOME QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER THE THINNING STRATUS WILL BREAK UP AROUND DENVER. THERE IS DRYING ALOFT WHICH WILL ERODE IT...BUT THAT WILL ALSO STRENGTHEN THE INVERSION. FOR NOW I WILL NOT CHANGE THE FORECAST MUCH. GIMMESTAD LONG TERM DISCUSSION: SATURDAY MORNING...THE AVN AND ETA ARE IN BETTER AGREEMENT FINALLY...WITH A FAIRLY STRONG UPPER CLOSED LOW OVER THE UTAH...IDAHO...WYOMING BORDER AREA. THROUGH SATURDAY... SATURDAY NIGHT...INTO SUNDAY MORNING THE LOW IS PROGGED TO CROSS THE NORTHERN BORDER OF COLORADO AND BE JUST EAST OF THE NORTHEAST BORDER BY 18Z SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THE DIV-Q GRIDS SHOW SIGNIFICANT SYNOPTIC SCALE ASCENT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA FROM 18Z SATURDAY TO ABOUT 15Z SUNDAY. THE LOW LEVEL PRESSURE AND WINDS FIELDS SHOW SOME UPSLOPE LATER SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING...THEN FLOW BECOMES NORTHWESTERLY OVERNIGHT INTO SUNDAY. THE BEST MOISTURE FOR PRECIPITATION IS FROM 03Z TO 15Z OVERNIGHT SATURDAY/SUNDAY FOR THE PLAINS. FOR THE MOUNTAINS...THE BEST MOISTURE IS FROM 00Z SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH ABOUT 12Z SUNDAY MORNING. THE SOUTHWEST WINDS PROGGED FOR THE MOUNTAINS ARE NOT HELPING FOR OROGRAPHIC ENHANCEMENT. FOR NOW...THE SCATTERED POPS OVER THE PLAINS LOOK GOOD...AS DO THE LIKELYS IN THE MOUNTAINS DUE TO THE MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS. FOR TEMPERATURES...GRIDS SHOW READINGS ABOUT 3-5 C WARMER FOR HIGHS ON SATURDAY OVER TODAYS READINGS. ON SUNDAY...HIGHS SHOULD BE ONLY A TAD WARMER. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...MODELS SHOW AN UPPER RIDGE AXIS JUST EAST OF THE COLORADO ON MONDAY WITH SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER THE FORECAST AREA IN ADVANCE OF THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH MOVING THIS WAY. THE UPPER TROUGH IS PROGGED OVER THE FORECAST AREA MONDAY NIGHT/TUESDAY MORNING...THEN NORTHWESTERLY FLOW FOR THE REST OF TUESDAY. WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY SHOW AN PRETTY STRONG UPPER RIDGE TO MOVE OVER THE FORECAST AREA. THE VARIOUS MODELS DO SHOW A LOW LEVEL SURGE OF COOLER AIR BUT NOT TO MUCH MOISTURE. FOR NOW WILL KEEP SOME POPS GOING IN THE MOUNTAINS...AND DRY ON PLAINS. LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BE WINDY TUESDAY. TUESDAY WILL LIKELY REMAIN A BIT BELOW SEASONAL NORMALS. RJK .DEN...NONE.
COZ030>051-021700- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1010 AM MST FRI NOV 1 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT. LIGHT SNOW LINGERING OVER LARIMER AND NORTHERN WELD COUNTIES LATE THIS MORNING WILL COME TO AN END BY EARLY AFTERNOON WITH LITTLE ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION. NO OTHER PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. .DAYS TWO TO SEVEN... ANOTHER DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT. SNOW SHOWERS WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD IN THE MOUNTAINS SATURDAY IN ADVANCE OF THE SYSTEM...AND THEN ACROSS THE PLAINS SATURDAY NIGHT. SOME ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED...BUT A SIGNIFICANT STORM IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. WINDS WILL BE INCREASING IN AND NEAR THE MOUNTAINS BEHIND THE SYSTEM...SO BLOWING SNOW MAY BECOME A PROBLEM EARLY SUNDAY. NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH NEXT FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL TURN WARMER WITH MAINLY DRY WEATHER IN THE FORECAST. DANKERS/BARJENBRUCH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter storm. 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, November 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: 5321325, 5321326, 5321327.