A fast moving upper level disturbance produced snowfall amounts from 5 to 10 inches across the mountains of southeast Utah.
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.
A fast moving upper level disturbance produced snowfall amounts from 5 to 10 inches across the mountains of southeast Utah.
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 Dec 29, 3:15 PM MST, 5 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 315 PM MST MON DEC 29 2003 .DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT)...LARGE BAROCLINIC LEAF IS BARRELING INTO THE CWA WITH LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS FORMING OVER THE MTNS. FORCING IS MAINLY LIMITED TO OROGRAPHICS WITH 700MB WINDS SW 20-30MPH. 300K ISENTROPIC SFC SHOWS WEAK UPGLIDE TONIGHT THRU TUESDAY NIGHT...MAINLY IN THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE CWA. TEMPERATURE ADVECTING IS NEUTRAL AND LAPSE RATES REMAIN LESS THAN MOIST ADIABATIC THRU THE PERIOD. MOST SNOWFALL TO BE LIMITED TO THE MOUNTAINS WITH THE SOUTHERN MTNS FAVORED. DIVERGENT/CONVERGENT COUPLET OVER THE WESTERN CWA THRU TUESDAY...COLLAPSING TUESDAY NIGHT. DENDRITIC CRYSTAL GROWTH REGION IS TOO HIGH (580-520MB) FOR OPTIMUM SNOW PRODUCTION. FOR THIS PACKAGE HAVE ISSUED AN ADVISORY FOR THE SOUTHERN SAN JUANS AND THE ABAJO/LA SAL MTNS. STILL ON THE FENCE FOR THE WEST ELK MTNS WHERE SW FLOW CAN BE VERY EFFICIENT. BUT MODELS SHOW A SHARP DECREASE IN RH FROM W TO E. SO FOR NOW WILL TOUCH THE 5 INCH ADVISORY AMOUNTS THERE. NORTHERN MTNS TO RECEIVE LESS SNOWFALL. POPS TO DIMINISH QUICKLY TUESDAY NIGHT WITH DRYING FROM W TO E. RAMEY LONG TERM (WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)...MDLS START OUT WEDNESDAY IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT...HOWEVER UK QUITE A BIT FURTHER SOUTHWESTWARD IN ITS PLACEMENT OF UPPER LOW OFF BAJA. WILL DISCOUNT THIS DIFFERENCE AND STAY WITH THE EC/GFS. BY THURSDAY THE EC BECOMES FASTER WITH EJECTING BAJA LOW. SOME DIFFERENCES SEEN FRIDAY...BUT BOTTOM LINE IS MOIST WESTERLY FLOW WILL COMBINE WITH A STRONG JET THAT PUNCHES THRU THE GREAT BASIN. WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY...FLOW SPLITS OVER OUR CWA AS BAJA UPPER LOW FILLS AND DRIFTS NEWRD WITH LITTLE EFFECT. NORTHERN BRANCH APPEARS MUCH MORE MOIST BUT DYNAMICS NOT ALL THE CONCENTRATED SO OROGRAPHIC FORCING WILL BE DOMINANT...MOSTLY OVER THE NRN MTNS. LOW QUICKLY EXITS NEWRD THRU NEW MEXICO THURSDAY. THE FLOW ALOFT WILL REMAIN FROM THE SOUTHWEST AS NEXT SYSTEM MOVES INLAND INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. AGAIN DYNAMIC LIFT SHOULD BE LIMITED. THUS..PRECIP AMOUNTS IN THE MOUNTAINS SHOULD BE HARDLY NOTICEABLE. THURSDAY NIGHT-SATURDAY...A STRONG JET BEGINS TO PUNCH INTO THE REGION THURSDAY NIGHT...AND COMBINED WITH MOIST ATMS WILL SEE PCPN BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD. BUMPED POPS UP A LITTLE IN THE THUR NITE GRID. FRIDAY CURRENTLY LOOKS LIKE A SIGNIFICANT PCPN DAY AS JET DYNAMICS INCREASE AND SFC FRONT/BAROCLINIC BOUNDARY APPROACH OUR CWA FROM THE NORTHWEST. WILL HOLD OFF ON LIKELY POPS UNTIL SUBSEQUENT MDL RUNS CONFIRM TIMING AND INTENSITY TRENDS. HOWEVER WILL MONITOR FOR POSSIBLE WARNING CRITERIA SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS IN SOME OF OUR MOUNTAIN ZONES. SUNDAY-MONDAY...GFS INDICATES A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN PACIFIC MOISTURE FOR OUR AREA. HOWEVER...A BIT CONCERNED THAT PRECIP EVENT OF FRI-SAT COULD LINGER INTO THIS TIME PERIOD IF A PERSISTENT FLOW OF PACIFIC MOISTURE CONTINUES AT THIS LATITUDE. ADDITIONALLY...UPPER JET WILL LIKELY BE OVER OR JUST SOUTH OF OUR CWA TO ADD DYNAMIC LIFT OVER SOME ZONES. AT A MIMIMUM...LIKELY TO HAVE SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUING ON OROGRAPHICALLY FAVORED ASPECTS OF MOUNTAIN ZONES THROUGH THIS PERIOD. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ZONE 19. .UT...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ZONE 28 ABOVE 7500 FEET. && JR/MC/JP/KS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 539 AM MST MON DEC 29 2003 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-301230- ANIMAS RIVER BASIN-ARCHES/GRAND FLAT-CANYONLANDS/NATURAL BRIDGES- CENTRAL COLORADO RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL GUNNISON AND UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL YAMPA RIVER BASIN-DEBEQUE TO SILT CORRIDOR- EASTERN UINTA BASIN-EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS-FLAT TOPS- FOUR CORNERS/UPPER DOLORES RIVER- GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS- GRAND VALLEY-LA SAL AND ABAJO MOUNTAINS-LOWER YAMPA RIVER BASIN- NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-PARADOX VALLEY/LOWER DOLORES RIVER- ROAN AND TAVAPUTS PLATEAUS-SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN-SOUTHEAST UTAH- SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-TAVAPUTS PLATEAU- UNCOMPAHGRE PLATEAU AND DALLAS DIVIDE-UPPER GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY- UPPER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS- 539 AM MST MON DEC 29 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... SOUTHWEST WINDS 20 TO 40 MPH WILL DEVELOP TODAY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF EASTERN UTAH AND NORTHWEST COLORADO AND PERSIST THROUGH TONIGHT. AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. THE SNOW WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AND LOCALLY HEAVY TONIGHT...WITH SOME SNOW ACCUMULATION EXPECTED. BLOWING SNOW WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... THE THREAT OF SNOW WILL PERSIST INTO WEDNESDAY...ACROSS MAINLY THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH. ANOTHER PACIFIC STORM WILL APPROACH THE AREA THURSDAY WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. HOWEVER... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT THEIR LATEST SNOWFALL AND SNOW DEPTH. DJN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, 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: 5331333.