A winter storm produced heavy snow across portions of the north-central mountains. Storm totals included: 22 inches atop Hoosier Pass, 16 inches, 3 miles north of Alma, 14 inches at Berthoud and 12 inches at Jackwacker Gulch and 2 miles west of Fraser.
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The episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
A winter storm produced heavy snow across portions of the north-central mountains. Storm totals included: 22 inches atop Hoosier Pass, 16 inches, 3 miles north of Alma, 14 inches at Berthoud and 12 inches at Jackwacker Gulch and 2 miles west of Fraser.
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 8, 2:42 PM MST, 2 hours 18 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 242 PM MST FRI NOV 8 2002 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION: CURRENTLY...THE HIGHEST WIND OBSERVATIONS I CAN FIND ARE...37 MPH AT ESTES PARK...40 MPH AT LOVELAND PASS...54 MPH AT BERTHOUD PASS...51 MPH ON NIWOT RIDGE. THE RADAR STILL SHOWS A WIND SIGNATURE JUST EAST OF THE DIVIDE...BUT ITS NOT AS PRONOUNCED AS IT WAS THIS MORNING. CURRENT RADAR AND SATELLITE PICTURES SHOW THE DECENT MOISTURE AND PRECIPITATION A GOOD FORECAST AREA AWAY. OUR MOUNTAINS HAVE SCATTERED LIGHT SNOW COVERAGE AT BEST RIGHT NOW...MORE LIKE ISOLATED. THE LATEST 18Z MODEL DATA INDEED SHOW IT TO BE WINDY IN AREAS ABOVE 6500 FEET THIS EVENING... OVERNIGHT...AND SATURDAY...BUT THE CROSS SECTIONS ARE NOT REAL EXCITED ABOUT A MOUNTAIN WAVE SET UP...THE STABLE LAYER IS NOT VERY PRONOUNCED FOR ONE THING. WILL CANCEL ALL THE WIND HIGHLIGHTS BUT WILL KEEP SOME DECENT SPEEDS IN THE ZONES. CONCERNING THE SNOW POTENTIAL IN THE MOUNTAINS...THE OROGRAPHIC FLOW IS PROGGED TO BE A BIT SOUTH OF DUE WEST OVERNIGHT...AND THERE IS REALLY NO COLD AIR ADVECTION UNTIL LATER IN THE DAY SATURDAY. ALSO THE FLOW BECOMES A BIT NORTH OF DUE WEST BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON. IN THE SYNOPTIC SCALE...THE DIV-Q GRIDS SHOW WEAK ASCENT OVERNIGHT INTO SATURDAY...THEN A MORE NEUTRAL TO WEAK DOWNWARD FORCING LATER ON SATURDAY. WITH THE CROSS SECTIONS OF MOISTURE AND SATELLITE PICTURES IN MIND WILL KEEP THE HIGHLIGHTS FOR SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS GOING. HOWEVER...WILL LOWER THE TOTAL AMOUNTS ON SATURDAY SOMEWHAT WITH THE SNOW MODEL AND UPSTREAM REAL DATA. ON THE PLAINS...THE MODELS SHOW A WEAK SURGE WITH A BRIEF SHOT OF UPSLOPE BEHIND IT BY LATE MORNING THROUGH MID AFTERNOON ON SATURDAY. THE CROSS SECTIONS SHOW IT TO BE PRETTY CLOUDY OVER THE PLAINS...BUT ITS MOSTLY MID AND UPPER LEVEL. NO POPS FOR NOW ON THE PLAINS FOR SATURDAY OR OVERNIGHT TONIGHT FOR THAT MATTER. FOR TEMPERATURES...GRIDS SHOW OVERNIGHT LOWS SIMILAR TO THIS MORNINGS. FOR HIGHS ON SATURDAY... READINGS ARE PROGGED ABOUT 2-4.5 C COOLER THEN THIS AFTERNOONS HIGHS. RJK LONG TERM DISCUSSION...SAT NGT-MON...FLO ALF BCMS MORE NWLY ACRS CNTRL RCKYS AS UPR RDG BLDS OVR W COAST THRU MON. AS THE FLO ALF BCMS MORE NWLY THE AMT OF MSTR MOVG IN FM THE PACIFIC WILL GRDLY DCRS. THOT ABOUT XTNDNG WSW FOR MTNS THRU SAT NGT...BUT MDLS SHW MIXED RESULTS WITH THE MESOETA SHWG THE MST MSTR AND THE AVN THE LEAST. WILL MENTION SUM ADDITIONAL ACCUMS IN MTNS BUT WILL LEAVE IT TO LATER SHIFTS TO XTND HI LITES IF NECESSARY. ERN FTHLS AND PLAINS WILL RMN DRY THRU PRD AS MDLS SHW NVA AND DWNWRD VERT VEL AND Q-G FORCING. MDLS CONSISTENT IN SHWNG COLD ADVCTN ALF AS JET STRM ALF RMNS TO S AND W OF AREA. H7 TEMPS WILL APPRCH -10 DEG C. FOR THIS REASON WILL FVR THE COOLER AVN MOS TEMP GDNC. IN XTNDD PRD...TUE-FRI...MRF BLDS UPR RDG OVR RCKYS ON TUE AND WED ...THEN DRIVES GUD SHT WV OVR TOP OF UPR RDG AND ACRS CNTRL RCKYS THU AND FRI. WILL KEEP PLAINS DRY THRU PRD BUT WILL KEEP MENTION OF CHC OF SNW MTNS ON TUE AND AGN THU AND FRI. WITH GUD LEE TROF DVLPG LATE WED INTO THU TEMPS WILL BE ABV SEASONAL NORMS AND DIP BLO SEASONAL NORMS BHND PAC CDFNT INTO FRI. GARD .DEN...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT AND SATURDAY FOR ZONES 31/33/34.
COZ030>051-081830- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1016 AM MST FRI NOV 8 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE... ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 9000 FEET THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... ...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS FROM THE DIVIDE EASTWARD THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... VERY STRONG WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL BE MOVING INTO THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON BRINGING WITH IT COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF MID AND UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE. THIS FLOW AND MOISTURE WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TO THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 9000 FEET STARTING THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE WELL INTO THE WEEKEND. VERY STRONG WINDS CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM FOR AREAS ALONG AND EAST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS OF 20 TO 45 MPH ARE EXPECTED ABOVE 6500 FEET WITH SOME GUSTS TO 70 MPH. OVER THE PLAINS...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. .DAYS TWO TO SEVEN... ...WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUED FOR MOUNTAINS ON SATURDAY... STRONG WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD PACIFIC MOISTURE INTO THE THE CENTRAL ROCKY MOUNTAINS THROUGH SUNDAY. HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE MUCH BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IN THE COLORADO NORTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS THROUGH SATURDAY. TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS OF 8 TO 16 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE BY SATURDAY NIGHT. THE SNOW AND WIND WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH ON SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY. A CHANCE OF SNOW WILL CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS ON TUESDAY AND AGAIN ON THURSDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED ON THE COLORADO NORTHEASTERN PLAINS WHICH WILL REMAIN DRY BUT BREEZY AT TIMES THROUGH THURSDAY. KOOPMEINERS/GARD
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: 5321321, 5321322, 5321323.