A winter storm produced 6 to 10 inches of snow across portions of southern Colorado. and over northwest parts of El Paso county.
Every event with a place to put it; 8 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 PUB wrote it up.
A winter storm produced 6 to 10 inches of snow across portions of southern Colorado. Some of the heavier snow amounts with this event include the following: 6 to 7 inches of snow was noted at Rye in Pueblo county...Walsenburg and La Veta in Huerfano county...near Woodland Park and Divide in Teller county...and over northwest parts of El Paso county. Cuchara...in southern Huerfano county measured 8 inches of snow...as did...the summit of Wolf Creek Pass...Santa Maria reservoir...and 10 miles to the southwest of Creede in Mineral county. Finally, the highest reported snow amount was 9.5 inches near Coaldale in Fremont county.
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 Dec 8, 4:00 AM MST, 8 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 400 AM MST MON DEC 8 2003 .SHORT TERM... (TODAY AND TONIGHT). ...SNOW AMOUNTS/HIGHLIGHTS THE CHALLENGE... MODELWISE...FORECAST BASED MAINLY ON A BLEND OF 00Z AND 06Z RUNS OF THE ETA DUE TO BETTER TERRAIN RESOLUTION. QUICK LOOK AT 06Z MM5 REVEALS GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH 06Z MESOETA. GFS IS ACTUALLY STRONGER WITH THE UPPER FEATURES...WHICH MAY BE CORRECT...BUT ITS QPF FIELDS APPEAR TOO COARSE OVER CO TO BE OF MUCH USE. CURRENTLY...UPPER TROUGH CONTINUES TO DIG OVER THE WESTERN U.S... WITH LEAD S/W GENERATING SOME CONVECTION ACROSS NRN AZ INTO ERN UT... EVEN A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES NOW INTO W-CENTRAL CO. SNOW FINALLY BEGINNING TO BREAK OUT ACROSS THE SW AND CENTRAL MTNS...WITH -SN AT KLXV LAST HOUR. AT THE SURFACE...BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OVER SERN CO...WITH MAIN SURFACE BOUNDARY STILL TO THE NORTH ALONG THE CO/WY BORDER. JUST ENOUGH WIND ACROSS THE PLAINS TO KEEP ATMOSPHERE MIXED...WITH READINGS MAINLY IN THE 40S AS OF 10Z. TODAY...OVERALL TRENDS OF THE CURRENT GRIDS LOOK PRETTY GOOD SO WONT MAKE TOO MANY BIG CHANGES. BIGGEST ADJUSTMENT WAS TO THE SNOW GRIDS AND HIGHLIGHTS OVER THE SWRN AND CENTRAL MTNS...AS UPSTREAM CONVECTION SUGGESTS BURSTS OF FAIRLY HEAVY SNOW MAY BE POSSIBLE THIS MORNING AND EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THUS INCREASED SNOW AMOUNTS ALONG AND WEST OF THE CONT DVD...AND EXTENDED THE HIGHLIGHTS UNTIL EARLY EVENING...AS SNOW MAY CONTINUE A LITTLE LONGER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT. OVER THE EAST...LOWERED POPS IN THE 12Z-18Z TIME FRAME ALONG THE I-25 CORRIDOR AS ANY PRECIP WILL BE AFTER MIDDAY FROPA. GRIDS NICELY PORTRAY FALLING TEMPS AND DETERIORATING CONDITIONS AFTER 18Z...AND NEED FEW IF ANY CHANGES. TONIGHT...CONVERTED THE WINTER STORM WATCHES OVER THE EAST TO WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES...AS SYSTEM IS MOVING JUST FAST ENOUGH TO KEEP AVERAGE ACCUMS SLIGHTLY UNDER WARNING CRITERIA. WONT BE TOO SURPRISED IF USUAL SNOWIER SPOTS (I.E. CUCHARA...BEULAH... SAN ISABEL) SEE AMOUNTS SLIGHTLY ABOVE 8 INCHES AS NERLY FLOW IS VERY FAVORABLE FOR THESE AREAS. ADDED A FEW ZONES OVER THE FAR EAST TO THE ADVISORY AS MODELS SHOW MAX ACCUMS MAY BRUSH THE FAR ERN TIER. NO HIGHLIGHTS IN EFFECT FOR KCOS DOWN TO KPUB AS DOWNSLOPE OFF THE PALMER LIMITS SNOW ACCUMS GREATLY. MAIN CHANGES TO THE GRIDS WERE TO INCREASE SNOW AMOUNTS SOME OVER THE FAR EAST AND SERN PLAINS... OTHERWISE FCST IS IN GOOD SHAPE. .LONG TERM... (TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY). WEATHER ISSUE IN THE LONG TERM IS CONTENDING WITH A SOMEWHAT ACTIVE/UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN. LATEST LONGER RANGE MODELS SUGGEST THAT SYSTEM THAT AFFECTS SHORT TERM WEATHER...SEE DISCUSSION ABOVE...SHOULD BE MOVING OUT OF THE REGION AS THE DAY PROGRESSES TUESDAY...STILL WILL CARRY SOME POPS...ESPECIALLY DURING THE MORNING OVER PORTIONS OF THE SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ZONES AS WELL AS TELLER AND NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY. WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY SHOULD BE RELATIVELY QUIET DAYS AS UPPER RIDGING OCCURS IN WAKE OF PREVIOUS SYSTEM. ANOTHER UPPER SYSTEM BEGINS TO AFFECT CWFAS WESTERN MOUNTAINS BY THURSDAY NIGHT/FRIDAY MORNING WITH THE POSSIBILITY THAT PRECIPITATION COULD SPREAD OVER THE ENTIRE CWFA FRIDAY NIGHT. THEN FROM LATER SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY...FOCUS OF PRECIPITATION SHOULD ONCE AGAIN BE OVER PORTIONS OF THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THE GFS IS DEPICTING ANOTHER RELATIVELY POWERFUL SYSTEM TO IMPACT CWFA JUST OUTSIDE OF THIS LONG TERM TIME-FRAME...I.E. FROM NEXT MONDAY INTO TUESDAY...WFO PUEBLO WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR. FINALLY...TEMPERATURES THROUGH-OUT THE LONG TERM SHOULD REMAIN NEAR OR BELOW CLIMATOLOGY. && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING EXTENDED UNTIL 5 PM MONDAY FOR THE EASTERN SAN JUANS ABOVE 10000 FEET (ZONE 68) WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY EXTENDED UNTIL 5 PM MONDAY FOR THE LA GARITAS ABOVE 10000 FEET (ZONE 66)...CHAFFEE AND LAKE COUNTIES ALONG THE SAWATCH RANGE ABOVE 11000 FEET (ZONE 60) AND THE REST OF LAKE COUNTY (ZONES 58 AND 59) WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NORTHERN EL PASO AND TELLER COUNTIES (ZONES 81...82 AND 84) FROM 12 PM MONDAY TO 6 AM TUESDAY WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY SANGRE DE CRISTOS (ZONES 72>75)... WET MOUNTAINS (ZONES 79 AND 80)...HUERFANO AND LAS ANIMAS COUNTIES INCLUDING THE SOUTHERN FOOTHILL AREAS AND THE RATON RIDGE (ZONES 87...88 AND 94) FROM 6 PM MONDAY TO 6 AM TUESDAY &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 700 AM MST MON DEC 8 2003 COZ058>089-093>099-091400- ALAMOSA VICINITY/CENTRAL SAN LUIS VALLEY BELOW 8500 FT- CANON CITY VICINITY/EASTERN FREMONT COUNTY- CENTRAL CHAFFEE COUNTY BELOW 9000 FT- COLORADO SPRINGS VICINITY/SOUTHERN EL PASO COUNTY/RAMPART RANGE BELOW 7500 FT-CROWLEY COUNTY- DEL NORTE VICINITY/NORTHERN SAN LUIS VALLEY BELOW 8500 FT- EASTERN KIOWA COUNTY-EASTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY- EASTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS ABOVE 10000 FT- EASTERN SAWATCH MOUNTAINS ABOVE 11000 FT- LA GARITA MOUNTAINS ABOVE 10000 FT-LA JUNTA VICINITY/OTERO COUNTY- LAMAR VICINITY/PROWERS COUNTY-LAS ANIMAS VICINITY/BENT COUNTY- LEADVILLE VICINITY/LAKE COUNTY BELOW 11000 FT- NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY/MONUMENT RIDGE/RAMPART RANGE BELOW 7500 FT- NORTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS ABOVE 11000 FEET- NORTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 8500 AND 11000 FT- NORTHWESTERN FREMONT COUNTY ABOVE 8500 FT-PIKES PEAK ABOVE 11000 FT- PUEBLO AND VICINITY/PUEBLO COUNTY BELOW 6300 FT- SAGUACHE COUNTY EAST OF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE BELOW 10000 FT- SAGUACHE COUNTY WEST OF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE BELOW 10000 FT- SOUTHERN SAN LUIS VALLEY- SOUTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS ABOVE 11000 FT- SOUTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 7500 AND 11000 FT- SPRINGFIELD VICINITY/BACA COUNTY- TELLER COUNTY/RAMPART RANGE ABOVE 7500 FT/PIKES PEAK BETWEEN 7500 AND 11000 FT- TRINIDAD VICINITY/WESTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY BELOW 7500 FT- UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY/EASTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS BELOW 10000 FT- WALSENBURG VICINITY/UPPER HUERFANO RIVER BASIN BELOW 7500 FT- WESTERN CHAFFEE COUNTY BETWEEN 9000 AND 11000 FT- WESTERN KIOWA COUNTY- WESTERN MOSQUITO RANGE/EAST CHAFFEE COUNTY ABOVE 9000 FT- WESTERN MOSQUITO RANGE/EAST LAKE COUNTY ABOVE 11000 FT- WESTERN/CENTRAL FREMONT COUNTY BELOW 8500 FT- WET MOUNTAIN VALLEY BELOW 8500 FEET-WET MOUNTAINS ABOVE 10000 FT- WET MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 6300 AND 10000 FT- 700 AM MST MON DEC 8 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. ...A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE EASTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS ABOVE 10000 FEET UNTIL 5 PM TODAY... ...A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE LA GARITA MOUNTAINS...THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS BELOW 10000 FEET...THE SAWATCH RANGE ABOVE 9000 FEET AND FOR LAKE COUNTY UNTIL 5 PM TODAY... ..A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHERN EL PASO AND TELLER COUNTIES FROM 12 PM TODAY TO 6 AM TUESDAY... ...A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE SANGRE DE CRISTO AND WET MOUNTAINS...HUERFANO COUNTY AND WESTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY FROM 6 PM TODAY TO 6 AM TUESDAY... ...A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR EASTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY...BACA...PROWERS...BENT AND KIOWA COUNTIES FROM 6 PM TODAY TO 6 AM TUESDAY... AN INTENSIFYING WINTER STORM WILL BRING SNOW TO MUCH OF COLORADO TODAY AND TONIGHT...BEFORE MOVING EAST OF THE AREA EARLY TUESDAY. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW OVER THE SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE THIS MORNING THROUGH EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL SPREAD EASTWARD TO THE SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT PLAINS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. PRESENT INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE HEAVIEST SNOW THIS MORNING WILL FALL ACROSS THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS OF THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS...WITH AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 8 INCHES EXPECTED. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL THIS AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT WILL BE ACROSS THE EAST FACING SLOPES OF THE WET AND SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS... WHERE SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 6 TO 8 INCHES WILL BE COMMON. FOR THE PUEBLO AND COLORADO SPRINGS AREAS...NORTHEAST WINDS DOWNSLOPING OFF THE PALMER DIVIDE WILL LIKELY KEEP SNOW ACCUMULATIONS IN THE 1 TO 5 INCH RANGE...WITH THE HIGHER AMOUNTS FOUND NORTH AND WEST OF DOWNTOWN COLORADO SPRINGS...AND JUST TO THE SOUTHWEST OF THE CITY OF PUEBLO. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. A SOMEWHAT ACTIVE AND UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN IS EXPECTED DURING THIS PERIOD. ON TUESDAY...SOUTHERN COLORADO IS EXPECTED TO BE MOVING INTO THE WAKE OF THE STORM SYSTEM WHICH IS PROJECTED TO AFFECT THE REGION MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. PRECIPITATION...ESPECIALLY DURING THE MORNING IS POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF THE SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ZONES AS WELL AS TELLER AND NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTIES. ANOTHER UPPER SYSTEM IS PROJECTED TO BEGIN AFFECTING THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS BY THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING WITH THE POSSIBILITY THAT PRECIPITATION COULD SPREAD OVER THE ENTIRE REGION BY FRIDAY NIGHT. FROM LATER SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY...THE FOCUS OF PRECIPITATION SHOULD ONCE AGAIN BE OVER PORTIONS OF THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. THOSE PLANNING TRAVEL TUESDAY MORNING AND THEN AGAIN LATER THIS WEEK SHOULD KEEP ABREAST OF THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION...PLEASE VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/PUB
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, December 2003
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: 5331597, 5331716, 5331599, 5331600, 5331601, 5331714, 5331715, 5331598.