Locally heavy snow fell across parts of the Front Range Foothills, Monument Ridge and Urban Corridor. 5 inches, 4 miles north of Franktown and 9 miles southwest of Sedalia, 8 inches, 7 miles southwest of Aurora and 6 inches at Highlands Ranch.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
Locally heavy snow fell across parts of the Front Range Foothills, Monument Ridge and Urban Corridor. Storm totals included: 9 inches, 3 miles south of Indian Hills, 8.5 inches, 4 miles north of Franktown and 9 miles southwest of Sedalia, 8 inches, 7 miles southwest of Aurora and 6 inches at Highlands Ranch.
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 Jan 25, 11:00 AM MST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1100 AM MST SUN JAN 25 2004 .UPDATE...ISSUED WINTER WX ADVISORIES FOR THE MOUNTAINS THRU THIS EVENING BASED ON VERY STEEP LAPSE RATES EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS. SNOW MODEL GIVES 3-6 INCHES AND EXPECT LOCAL SNOWFALL RATES UP TO 2 INCHES IN ONE HOUR NOT UNCOMMON. MARGINAL OROGRAPHICS SHOULD BE OVERCOME WITH THE GOOD LAPSE RATES AND DECENT UPWARD FORCING WITH THE TROF. ACROSS THE EAST...SURFACE COLD FRONT NOW MOVING INTO SERN WYOMING WILL MOVE SOUTHWARD THRU EASTERN CO DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. THERE IS SOME INTIAL UPSLOPE FLOW AND THE AIRMASS SHOULD MOISTEN UP SOME 1-2 HRS AFTER FROPA. WITH THE UNSTABLE AIRMASS ABOVE...EXPECT SHSN TO BREAK OUT LATE IN THE DAY. LATEST MESOETA HAS ACCUM SNOWFALL FROM DEN SOUTWARD ACROSS THE PALMER DIVIDE. HAVE INTRODUCED SCT POPS AT DEN AND LIKELYS FURTHER SOUTH ACROSS ZN 41. STILL MAY HAVE INCREASE SNOWFALL OVER DENVER AS WELL. WELL WAIT ON THAT ABIT TO SEE HOW IT PLAYS OUT. IMAGINE...GFS FCST FROM LAST WED(DYS 5-6) WAS RIGHT ON. .LONG TERM...MON-TUE...MDLS CONSISTENT IN MAINTAINING INCREASING NWLY FLO ALF ACRS CNTRL RCKYS BEHIND EXITING UPR TROF WITH 130+ KT JET STREAM MOVING ACRS NRN RCKYS ONTO NRN GRT PLAINS. BEST THREAT WILL BE PSBL HI WNDS IN MTNS AND ALG ERN SLPS FM LATE MON NGT INTO TUE. AS SFC LO PRES FORMS IN LEE OF NRN RCKYS...GUD LEE TROFG WILL EXTEND S INTO FCST AREA LATE MON NGT INTO TUE. FCST SANGSTER FM BOTH ETA AND AVN MDLS HAVE WNDS ON TUE IN WATCH/WARNING CATEGORIES. WHILE TOO EARLY TO ISSUE HI WND WATCH WILL KEEP WNDS IN ZONES ON HI SIDE. MDLS CONT TO SHW MSTR ARND MTN TOP LVL SO WILL LEAVE SCT SNW SHWRS IN MTNS THRU TUE. GUD WARMING ALF WILL KEEP ANY ACCUMS ON LGT SIDE. MON WILL BE A COLD DAY DUE TO LINGERING EFFECTS OF UPR TROF BUT STG DWNSLP CHINOOK WNDS ALG ERN SLPS ON TUE WILL WARM TEMPS TO NR 50 DEG ON PLAINS. WILL FAVOR THE GENERALLY COOLER GFS MOS TEMP GUIDANCE THRU TUE. IN EXTENDED PERIOD...WED-SAT...NWLY FLO ALF WILL PERSIST ACRS CNTRL RCKYS. WILL MAKE ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO CURRENT FCST ATTM. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER WX ADVISORY THRU THIS EVENING...ZNS 31..33>34. ENTREKIN/GARD...WFO BOULDER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1044 AM MST SUN JAN 25 2004 COZ030>051-261300- 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- 1044 AM MST SUN JAN 25 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGH VALLEYS THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE THROUGH THIS EVENING...THEN ENDING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS IN THE MOUNTAINS BY LATER TONIGHT WILL BE 4 TO 9 INCHES. A MUCH COLDER AIRMASS AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL ALSO BE DEVELOPING ACROSS EASTERN COLORADO LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUING THIS EVENING. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS ALSO EXPECTED ACROSS THE PALMER DIVIDE AND ADJACENT AREAS THROUGH THIS EVENING WITH UP TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW. A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL WEATHER DISTURBANCE AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING OVER THE STATE TODAY...PRODUCING THE SNOW. THE AIRMASS WILL BE SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE THROUGH THIS EVENING...WHICH MAY PRODUCE HEAVY SNOW AT TIMES...WITH RATES UP TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW IN ONE HOUR. EVEN AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM CAN NOT BE RULED OUT. WITH GUSTY NORTHERLY WINDS...VISIBILITIES MAY BE REDUCED TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SURFACE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN IN THE MOUNTAINS AND ALONG THE EASTERN SLOPES OF THE FRONT RANGE MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY. LOOK FOR NORTHWEST WINDS OF 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 55 MPH MONDAY NIGHT IN AREAS ALONG AND EAST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. STRONGER WINDS ARE EXPECTED ON TUESDAY WITH POSSIBLE GUSTS TO AROUND 70 SPEEDS ABOVE TIMBERLINE AND ON EAST SLOPES ABOVE 9000 FEET. LOWER FOOTHILL AREAS MAY SEE GUSTS TO AROUND 50 MPH. THE STRONG WINDS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE BLOWING SNOW AT TIMES ON THE HIGH MOUNTAIN PASSES. THE SURFACE STRONG WINDS WILL BE THE RESULT OF INCREASING NORTHWEST WINDS ALOFT AND A STEEP CROSS MOUNTAIN SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT. THERE WILL ALSO BE A CHANCE OF SNOW OFF AND ON IN THE MOUNTAINS MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. ANY SNOW ACCUMULATION WILL BE LIGHT...AND CONFINED MAINLY TO WEST AND NORTHWEST FACING SLOPES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. INTENSE SNOWFALL REPORTS WILL BE APPRECIATED AS THE STORM MOVES ACROSS THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ENTREKIN/BAKER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 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, January 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: 5383105, 5383106, 5383107, 5383108.