Nine people were driving snowmobiles just below the 12,000 foot level in the La Plata Mountains when one of the snowmobiles got stuck at a location behind the others. Another snowmobiler who came back to help triggered the avalanche which came down from a higher elevation of the mountain and engulfed the stuck snowmobiler.
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.
Nine people were driving snowmobiles just below the 12,000 foot level in the La Plata Mountains when one of the snowmobiles got stuck at a location behind the others. Another snowmobiler who came back to help triggered the avalanche which came down from a higher elevation of the mountain and engulfed the stuck snowmobiler. The victim was not recovered in time to be revived. The location of the avalanche was about 14 miles south of Rico on Burro Mountain. The avalanche was 700 feet wide and fell 800 vertical feet.
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 22, 2:54 AM MST, 10 hours 6 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 254 AM MST SAT MAR 22 2003 S/W RIDGE APPROACHING FROM WEST WILL AFFECT THE FORECAST AREA TODAY WITH DRY AND WARMER CONDITIONS. THIN STRATUS DECK ACROSS THE NORTHWEST PLATEAU AND CENTRAL VALLEYS WILL DISSIPATE THROUGHOUT THE MORNING. EXPECT MAX TEMPS TODAY GENERALLY 5F DEGREES WARMER THAN FRIDAY WITH MORE SUNSHINE. DISTURBANCE ENTERS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS EVENING...FLATTENING RIDGE ACROSS OUR AREA AND ALLOWING MID/HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE TO INCREASE NORTH OVERNIGHT. MAIN S/W SLIDES ACROSS IDAHO/WYOMING SUNDAY AFTERNOON...WITH A TRAILING COLD FRONT ENTERING NORTHWEST UTAH BY 00Z/MON. WINDY CONDITIONS LIKELY TO DEVELOP FROM THE SOUTHWEST SUNDAY AHEAD OF S/W TROUGH. MEANWHILE...ADDITIONAL PACIFIC S/W ENERGY WILL CATCH UP WITH INITIAL WAVE AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT...MERGING INTO AN OPEN WAVE THAT WILL CROSS THE FORECAST AREA MONDAY. MESOETA SETS UP NARROW DEFORMATION ZONE EXTENDING FROM CENTRAL UTAH TO NORTHWEST COLORADO BY 06Z/MON. GOOD LOW LVL MOISTURE CONVG ALONG/AHEAD OF COLD FRONT AND NOTED THERMAL GRADIENT WILL FOCUS POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT PRECIP ACROSS THE NORTH SUNDAY EVENING...THEN ACROSS THE CENTRAL ZONES OVERNIGHT SUNDAY/ EARLY MONDAY AS DEFORMATION ZONE GRADUALLY SINKS SOUTH. SNOW LEVELS ACROSS THE CENTRAL TERRAIN WILL BE CHALLENGING SUNDAY NIGHT... DEPENDING ON SOUTHWARD PROGRESSION OF COLDER AIR. AT THIS TIME...WILL KEEP LOWEST VALLEYS (GRAND VALLEY) ALL RAIN SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY. SHORT RANGE MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH TIMING AND STRENGTH OF THIS SYSTEM. MOIST/UNSTABLE AIR MASS ACROSS THE AREA MONDAY WILL LEAD TO THE CHANCE OF RAIN/SNOW SHOWERS. ENTIRE SYSTEM CROSSES FORECAST AREA MONDAY NIGHT WITH A DRYING TREND. S/W RIDGE APPROACHES TUESDAY WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPS. NADLER.83 WEDNESDAY...SHRTWV RDG DEPARTS THE REGION AS HEIGHTS AGAIN FALL THROUGHOUT THE WESTERN U.S. FAST WNW FLOW ALOFT SETS UP BY MIDDAY WEDNESDAY WITH H3 LEVEL JET INCREASING TO OVER 120+ KTS. LATEST AVN/GFS RUN INDICATING SUFFICIENT MID/LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WL WORK BACK INTO THE NRN ZONES BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. WITH DECENT OROGRAPHIC COMPONENT IN PLACE...HAVE INTRODUCED CHC POPS TO THE NRN PORTIONS OF THE FA STARTING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THURSDAY/FRIDAY...MAJOR CHANGES IN THE LATEST GFS RUN WHICH NOW INDICATES A MORE OPEN WAVE PASSING THROUGH THE REGION DURING THIS TIME PERIOD VERSUS THE STRONG CLOSED LOW NEAR THE 4-CORNERS FROM THE PREVIOUS MODEL RUN. CONSIDERING THE STRENGTH OF THE UPPER LEVEL JET AND LITTLE DOWNSTREAM BLOCKING...BELIEVE THE MODEL IS COMING AROUND TO A MORE RELIABLE SOLUTION. LATEST UKMET IN AGREEMENT WITH THIS SCENARIO AS WELL. HOWEVER...SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST RUN WITH SIGNIFICANT CHANGES...AM SOMEWHAT HESITANT TO MAKE MAJOR ADJUSTMENTS TO THE EXTENDED FCST. THEREFORE...WL CONT WITH THE CHC POPS CURRENTLY IN THE FCST...WITH EMPHASIS OF HIGHEST POPS RESTRICTED TO THE NRN ZONES FOR NOW. SATURDAY/SUNDAY...NW FLOW ALOFT IS EXPECTED TO BE IN PLACE WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE IN PLACE TO KEEP OROGRAPHIC SHOWERS IN PLACE FOR THE NRN PORTIONS OF THE FA. SRN ZONES ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN DRY. JDC .GJT...NONE.
COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-231300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 600 AM MST SAT MAR 22 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN COLORADO AND FOR EASTERN UTAH .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... HEAVY SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH STARTING LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY AS A STRONG PACIFIC STORM MOVES INTO THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. COLTON
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, Southwestern San Juan Mountains | 2003-03-22 | 22 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
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, March 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: 5348974.