A back country skier at the 12,600 foot level just east of the Telluride Ski Area was hit by an avalanche, swept over a cliff, and fell about 800 feet. The skier miraculously survived the ordeal and was rescued by a helicopter.
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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 GJT wrote it up.
A back country skier at the 12,600 foot level just east of the Telluride Ski Area was hit by an avalanche, swept over a cliff, and fell about 800 feet. The skier miraculously survived the ordeal and was rescued by a helicopter.
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 23, 3:04 AM MST, 10 hours 56 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 304 AM MST SUN MAR 23 2003 UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING ACROSS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS MORNING BEGINNING TO FLATTEN MID LVL FLOW ACROSS OUR AREA. COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL PUSH INTO NW UTAH TODAY. S/W TROUGH JUST OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST WILL MOVE INLAND TODAY AND ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA MONDAY. NARROW PLUME OF DEEP PACIFIC MOISTURE WILL GRADUALLY SINK SOUTH ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN TODAY AND STRETCH ACROSS NE UTAH/NW COLORADO TONIGHT. APPROACHING SYSTEM AND DEVELOPING SFC LOW OVER THE HIGH PLAINS WILL KICK UP SOUTHWEST SURFACE WINDS THIS AFTERNOON. SOLAR HEATING AND BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS WILL HELP BOOST MAX TEMPS UP A FEW MORE DEGREES FROM SATURDAY. THINGS BEGIN TO GET INTERESTING TONIGHT AND MONDAY. CALIFORNIA S/W TROUGH MOVES INLAND TONIGHT. COLD FRONT WILL GET HUNG UP ALONG WASATCH MTNS OF CENTRAL UTAH...EXTENDING ACROSS NE UTAH AND NW COLORADO. WITH MOISTURE POOLING ALONG THE FRONT AND GOOD LOW LEVEL CONVG ASSOCIATED WITH FRONTAL BOUNDARY...EXPECT A FEW SHOWERS TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE HIGH TERRAIN OF NE UTAH/NW COLO LATER TONIGHT. HAD TO BACK OFF ON AREAL COVERAGE AND TIMING OF PRECIP DUE TO SLOWER PROGRESSION OF PACIFIC SYSTEM. PRECIP WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE NORTH BY MONDAY MORNING AS COLDER AIR BEGINS TO INFILTRATE AND S/W TROUGH APPROACHES. PRETTY GOOD DEFORMATION ZONE SETS UP ACROSS THE COLORADO NW PLATEAU MONDAY MORNING...WITH MESOETA INDICATING >.30 QPF BETWEEN 12Z-18Z/MONDAY. RAIN/SNOW MIX ACROSS THE NORTH SHOULD TURN TO ALL SNOW MONDAY MORNING AS H7 TEMPS DROP BETWEEN -6C TO -8C BY 18Z/MON. TROUGH PASSAGE WILL OCCUR BETWEEN 00Z-06Z/TUE WITH NUMEROUS SHOWERS ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA MONDAY AFTERNOON. ACROSS THE CENTRAL/SOUTH...SNOW LEVELS WILL DROP TO AROUND 7500FT MONDAY. AT THIS TIME...HAVE KEPT SNOW AMOUNTS BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA FOR LATE TONIGHT/MONDAY. HOWEVER...WILL HAVE WATCH HEAVIER PRECIP WITHIN DEFORMATION ZONE (COZN 1/2) EARLY MONDAY...AND MTN CONVECTION MONDAY AFTERNOON. FLOW SWINGS AROUND TO THE NORTHWEST MONDAY EVENING WITH SCATTERED PRECIP PERSISTING ACROSS FAVORABLE MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS. THINGS QUICKLY DRY OUT AND WARM UP TUESDAY AS S/W RIDGE APPROACHES. NADLER.83 WEDNESDAY...NO MAJOR CHANGES AS SHRTWV RDG DEPARTS THE REGION WITH HEIGHTS FALLING THROUGHOUT THE WESTERN U.S. AS ANOTHER SHRTWV TROUGH ADVANCES EWD. SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE SLOWING WITH THE LATEST MODEL RUN...AND IS COMING IN A LITTLE DEEPER. HAVE PULLED MORNING PRECIP FOR EASTERN UTAH...BUT MAINTAINED SLGT CHC/CHC POPS OVER THE NRN PORTIONS OF THE FA FOR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. SRN ZONES TO REMAIN DRY. THURSDAY/FRIDAY...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH THE INCOMING SHRTWV TROUGH IN REGARDS TO SPEED AND STRENGTH AS IT TRIES TO CLOSE OFF. EARLIER RUNS HAD THE SYSTEM CLOSING OFF IN THE VCNTY OF THE 4-CORNERS...THEN TRANSITIONED TO A MORE OPEN WAVE AND NOW WERE SEEING A LOW FORMING OVER THE MIDWEST BY FRIDAY. IN ANY CASE...ENOUGH MOISTURE WL BE PRESENT AND COMBINED WITH DEEP NNWLY FLOW...CAA...INSTABILITY AND OROGRAPHICS...STILL EXPECT CHC POPS FOR MOST MTN AND VALLEY LOCATIONS BOTH DAYS. SATURDAY/SUNDAY...NW FLOW ALOFT IS EXPECTED TO BE IN PLACE WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE TO KEEP OROGRAPHIC SHOWERS FOR THE NRN PORTIONS OF THE FA. SRN ZONES ARE EXPECTED TO BE DRY. JDC .GJT...NONE.
COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-241300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 530 AM MST SUN MAR 23 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...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... SNOW WILL FALL OVER MOST MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH ON MONDAY AS A FAST MOVING COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS FROM 2 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED WITH LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE ALONG WEST FACING SLOPES. ANOTHER ROUND OF SNOW...POSSIBLY HEAVY...WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH STARTING LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUING THROUGH 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.
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: 5348975.