Across the Denver area, the heaviest snowfall occurred over the southern suburbs. Snowfall totals included: 10 inches, 4 miles north-northeast of Parker, with 7 inches at Centenniel and Littleton.
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 BOU wrote it up.
Across the Denver area, the heaviest snowfall occurred over the southern suburbs. Snowfall totals included: 10 inches, 4 miles north-northeast of Parker, with 7 inches at Centenniel and Littleton. Elsewhere across the metropolitan area, lesser amounts of 2 to 5 inches were reported.
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 Apr 22, 1:50 PM MST, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 250 PM MDT THU APR 22 2004 .SHORT TERM...MAIN CONCERN TONIGHT WILL BE WHERE THE SNOW LEVEL IS GOING TO BE. MDLS ARE ALL CONSISTENT IN DEVELOPING THE UPPER LOW OVER THE FOUR CORNERS REGIONS WITH A DEEP EASTERLY UPSLOPE COMPONENT DEVELOPING. ETA BUFFER SOUNDINGS DROP THE WET BULB ZERO TO AROUND 5300 FT BY 12Z FRIDAY...ALL THE OTHER MDLS SOUNDINGS ARE LESS OPTIMISTIC. WITH THE AMS AS SATURATED AS IT IS...I/M NOT SURE IT WILL GO MUCH LOWER THAN THIS. FOR NOW WILL WORD THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL FOR AREAS ABOVE 5500 FT...AS IT SHOULD BE A FAIRLY SHARP TRANSITION FROM RAIN TO HEAVY SNOW. DURATION OF SNOWFALL IS A BIGGER QUESTION ESPECIALLY FOR ZONE 38 AS LOW LEVELS BECOME NORTHWESTERLY AFTER 06Z TONIGHT. FOR TONIGHT...WILL HOIST AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ZONE 38...AND A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR ZONES 39..40..45 AND 46. THE STRONGEST DYNAMICS WILL OCCUR OVER SRN AND WRN SECTIONS OF THE CWA TONIGHT AND FRIDAY...WHICH SHOULD HELP SNOW POTENTIAL FOR THE AFOREMENTIONED ZONES. ON FRIDAY...SNOW SHOULD TRANSITION BACK TO RAIN BY THE AFTERNOON...SO ANY ACCUMULATING SNOW ALG THE URBAN CORRIDOR WILL LIKELY OCCUR IN THE MORNING. E/NELY FLOW WILL CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS SO SNOW SHOULD CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY. .LONG TERM DISCUSSION...FRI NGT-SUN...MDLS EJECT CLOSED UPR LO OVR 4 CORNERS ACRS THE STATE ON FRI NGT AND END PCPN BY SUNRISE SAT MORNING. MDLS ONLY GIVE LIGHT RAIN/SNW AMTS ON FRI NGT AS STORM WINDS DOWN AND DEEP ELY FLO ALF SWITHES TO NW. WILL KEEP WINTER STORM WARNING FOR MTNS...ERN FTHLLS AND PALMER DVD TIL MIDNGT FRI AS THE ONLY HI LITE. UPR RDG OVR WRN U.S. WILL START TO BUILD OVR THE CNTL RCKYS ON SAT INTO SUN. SYS WILL BRING DRY AND WARMER WX TO THE AREA. WILL GENERALLY FVR THE COOLER OF MOS TEMP GUIDANCE. PARTIAL CLRG BY DAYBRK SAT MRNG MAY CAUSE TEMPS TO DIP LWR THAN MOS GUDICANCE WUD INDICATE. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...MON-THU...MDLS BUILD UPR RDG OVR CNTRL RCKYS...THEN RDG GETS FLATTENED IN ADV OF NEXT PAC TROF WHICH WILL MOVE INTO WRN CO ON THU. SYS WILL DROP A CDFNT S OVR HI PLAINS. THUS WILL ADD SLGT CHC OF SHWRS TO FCST ON THU...OTRW AIR MASS WILL REMAIN DRY. TEMPS WILL GRADUALLY WARM THRU PRD WITH SUM COOLING ON THU. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE HIGH MOUNTAINS...PARK COUNTY...FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS...AND THE PALMER RIDGE INCLUDING ZONES 33..34..35..36..37..41 FOR TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. WINTER STORM WARNING 6 PM TONIGHT TO 6 PM FRIDAY FOR THE URBAN CORRIDOR AND LOCATIONS ADJACENT TO THE PALMER DIVIDE...ZONES 39..40..45 AND 46. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TONIGHT AND FRIDAY FOR THE EASTERN LARIMER COUNTY...ZONE 38. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TONIGHT AND FRIDAY FOR MTNS OF WRN JACKSON AND GRAND COUNTIES...ZONE 31. COOPER/GARD...WFO BOULDER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1056 AM MDT THU APR 22 2004 COZ030>051-231200- JACKSON COUNTY BELOW 9000 FEET-WEST JACKSON AND WEST GRAND COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-GRAND AND SUMMIT COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND EAST JACKSON/LARIMER/NORTH AND NORTHEAST GRAND/ NORTHWEST BOULDER COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST GRAND/WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST BOULDER/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/ SUMMIT/NORTH AND WEST PARK COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-LARIMER AND BOULDER COUNTIES BETWEEN 6000 AND 9000 FEET-JEFFERSON AND WEST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/NORTHEAST PARK COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PARK COUNTY-LARIMER COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY-BOULDER AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES BELOW 6000 FEET/WEST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES/ EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-ELBERT/CENTRAL AND EAST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET-NORTHEAST WELD COUNTY-CENTRAL AND SOUTH WELD COUNTY-MORGAN COUNTY-CENTRAL AND EAST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES- NORTH AND NORTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTH LINCOLN COUNTY-SOUTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY-LOGAN COUNTY-WASHINGTON COUNTY-SEDGWICK COUNTY-PHILLIPS COUNTY- 1056 AM MDT THU APR 22 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON...WITH THE SNOW LEVEL EXPECTED TO BE AROUND 6000 FEET. THE SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES IN THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS...THE FOOTHILLS...SOUTH PARK...AND DOUGLAS COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON. A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THESE AREAS. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL LOWER TO BETWEEN 5000 AND 5500 FEET AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT WITH RAIN OR RAIN MIXING SNOW ACROSS MUCH OF THE PLAINS. A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ELEVATIONS ABOVE 5000 FEET...INCLUDING FORT COLLINS... BOULDER...AS WELL AS WESTERN AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE DENVER METROPOLITAN AREA...STARTING TONIGHT...AS HEAVY SNOW IS POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY NIGHT WITH THE SNOW LEVEL HOVERING BETWEEN 5000 AND 6000 FEET. STORM TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 FEET ARE EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS ALONG AND EAST OF THE DIVIDE...WITH 10 TO 20 INCHES IN EASTERN DOUGLAS AND WESTERN ELBERT COUNTIES. IN THE FRONT RANGE CITIES AND THE PLAINS BETWEEN DENVER AND LIMON AMOUNTS ARE MORE UNCERTAIN...BUT THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR 6 TO 12 INCHES OF WET SNOW. AT LOWER ELEVATIONS ON THE PLAINS THERE WILL BE SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL...AND SOME SNOW ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE BUT AMOUNTS WILL BE LIGHTER. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. COOPER/GARD
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
156 PM MDT THU APR 22 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0119 PM SNOW 2 N FAIRPLAY 39.25N 106.00W
04/22/2004 1.00 INCH PARK CO TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
BBLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT ... CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
258 PM MDT THU APR 22 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0119 PM SNOW 2 N FAIRPLAY 39.25N 106.00W
04/22/2004 1.00 INCH PARK CO TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
XXXThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2004
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: 5390733.