Scattered reports of heavy snow were reported across Middle and South Parks as well as the foothills of Larimer and Boulder Counties. 5 inches at Tabernash and 11 inches, 4 miles south-southwest of Estes Park and Fairplay, and 9 inches, 3 miles southwest of Jamestown.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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.
Scattered reports of heavy snow were reported across Middle and South Parks as well as the foothills of Larimer and Boulder Counties. Snowfall totals included 14.5 inches at Tabernash and 11 inches, 4 miles south-southwest of Estes Park and Fairplay, and 9 inches, 3 miles southwest of Jamestown.
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 2, 2:30 PM MST, 9 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 230 PM MST FRI JAN 2 2004 .SHORT TERM...NOT AN EASY SITUATION DURING THIS PERIOD. FIRST FOR THE HIGH COUNTRY...WILL RELUCTANTLY HOLD ON TO WARNING IN THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH SATURDAY AND ADVISORY IN NORTH AND MIDDLE PARKS THROUGH TONIGHT. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWING A BIG BATCH OF DRY AIR MOVING INTO THE GREAT BASIN AT THIS TIME WHICH HAS THE POTENTIAL OF PUSHING ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. THIS COULD SHUT PRECIPITATION DOWN QUITE A BIT...AT LEAST FOR A TIME. HOWEVER...ANOTHER BATCH OF MOISTURE FURTHER UPSTREAM MAY PROVIDE ADDITIONAL MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY LATER TONIGHT AND INTO SATURDAY. IN THE MEAN TIME QUITE A BIT OF CONVECTION HAS POPPED UP IN THE LAST LITTLE WHILE WHICH SHOULD BE GOOD TO PROVIDE SOME DECENT SNOWFALL RATES THROUGH SUNDOWN AT LEAST IN ZONES 30 AND 31. LATE REPORT FROM CAIC ALSO INDICATES SOME CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY PRODUCED GOOD SNOW FALLS IN LOCALIZED AREAS MIDDAY SATURDAY. MODELS SIMILAR IN KEEPING SOME DECENT FORCING AND THE JET OVER THE HIGH COUNTRY THROUGH SATURDAY ALTHOUGH JET SAGS SOUTH OF THE AREA DURING THE DAY. FOR THE PLAINS A FEW SNOW SHOWERS HAVE MANAGED TO DRIFT OFF THE HILLS FROM TIME TO TIME TODAY IN UNSTABLE AIR AND LOCAL CONVERGENCE IN LONGMONT ANTICYCLONE BUT MODELS SHOW INCREASING STABILITY DURING THE PERIOD WHICH WILL MAKE IT TOUGHER FOR PRECIPITATION TO SURVIVE EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS AFTER SUNDOWN. SOME DISCREPANCIES IN THE SURFACE FLOW BETWEEN THE ETA AND GFS FOR TOMORROW WITH GFE SHOWING MORE DOWNSLOPE/INVERTED TROUGH THAN ETA. WE WILL HAVE THE JET OVERHEAD MOST OF THE DAY AND SOME QG FORCING ALOFT OVER THE PLAINS WHICH SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT TO GENERATE PRECIPITATION...AT LEAST ALOFT. THE KEY WILL LIKELY BE IN THE SURFACE FLOW WHICH IS NOT EASY TO MAKE A CALL AT THIS POINT. FEEL THE INHERITED CATEGORICAL POPS WE NOW HAVE ARE TOO HIGH GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY/INCONSISTENCY IN THE LOWER LEVEL MODEL WIND/PRESSURE FORECASTS SO WILL RATCHET THINGS DOWN A TOUCH (MOST MOS NUMBERS ARE QUITE DISTANT FROM CATEGORICAL AS WELL). MODEL QPF FIELDS SUGGEST SOME BANDING MAY OCCUR WHICH SEEMS QUITE REALISTIC GIVEN THE POTENTIAL FOR CSI...THE PROBLEM BEING WHETHER OR NOT THEIR FORECAST POSITIONS ARE RIGHT. IF BANDS DO SET UP LOCATIONS UNDERNEATH COULD QUICKLY GET SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW WHEREAS LOCATIONS A COUPLE OF MILES AWAY MAY GET ZILCH. THESE SITUATIONS ESSENTIALLY HAVE TO BE RELEGATED TO THE NOWCAST REGIME AND WILL GO WITH A RELATIVELY HOMOGENEOUS QPF WITH THIS PACKAGE. .LONG TERM...AS DISSCUSSED ABOVE...THE SURFACE PATTERN IS GOING TO BE THE KEY ON HOW MUCH OR LITTLE SNOWFALL DEVELOPS ACROSS THE LOWER ELEVATIONS. THERE ARE TIMING DIFFERENCES AS WELL BETWEEN THE ETA AND GFS WITH THE ETA BEING THE SLOWER WITH MORE OF AN USPLOPE COMPONENT. THE GFS MOVES MUCH OF THE PRECIP OUT BY 00Z SUN WITH INVERTED TROF SPREADING STRONGER NW WINDS ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE. THIS WOULD EFFECTIVELY CUT OFF THE PRECIP BEFORE EVENING EVEN BEGINS. THE ETA KEEPS MORE PRECIP ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE TIL ABOUT 06Z THEN ENDS AS THE UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM BEGINS PUSH EAST OF US. CSI BANDED PRECIP WILL ALSO PLAY A FACTOR AND ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL WHERE THESE BANDS WILL BE LYING SAT NITE. WILL CONTINUE WITH THE 60 POPS OVER THE PLAINS BUT KEEP SNOW AMOUNTS LIGHT. THERE IS THOUGH THE POTENTIAL FOR HIGHER SNOW AMOUNTS UNDER A PROLONGED SNOW BAND. IMPROVING CONDITIONS ON LATE SAT NITE AND SUNDAY BUT TEMPS WILL REMAIN COLD. THERE IS STILL A LOT OF QUESTION MARKS FOR MON-WED TIME FRAME ON HOW MUCH COLD AIR CONTINUES TO FILTER IN FROM CANADA. LAST NIGHTS 00Z GFS NEVER DID BRING IN ANY COLD AIR WITH TEMPS ACROSS LOWER ELEVATIONS RISING IN THE 50S TUE-WED BASED ON MEX GUIDANCE. HOWEVER...EUROPEAN AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS SHOWED A MUCH STRONGER SURFACE HIGH AND CONSEQUENTLY A STRONGER PUSH OF COLDER AIR INTO NERN CO MONDAY AND TUESDAY. WILL STILL HEDGE TOWARDS THE COLDER AIR AND MAKE FEW CHANGES TO CURRENT EXTENDED. INTERESTING THAT ALL THE 00Z GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS NEVER DO BRING THE COLD AIR IN. SO IT COULD BE 50S OR 20S? TAKE YOUR PICK. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH SATURDAY...ZONES 31...33 AND 34. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TONIGHT...ZONES 30 AND 32. ET/SWE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1132 AM MST FRI JAN 02 2004 COZ030>051-031300- 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- 1132 AM MST FRI JAN 02 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WIND AND PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CONTINUE IN THE HIGH COUNTRY... FOOTHILLS...AND NORTH...MIDDLE AND SOUTH PARKS FOR THE REST OF TODAY AND INTO TONIGHT. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE A BIT LESS THAN OCCURRED OVERNIGHT AS SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR MOVES INTO THE AREA. IN ADDITION...A THREAT OF SNOW WILL DEVELOP ON THE PLAINS TONIGHT. AT PRESENT IT APPEARS THAT ACCUMULATIONS...IF ANY...ON THE PLAINS BY DAYBREAK SHOULD GENERALLY BE LIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY OCCASIONAL LIGHT SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED OVER LOWER ELEVATIONS SATURDAY AND SATURDAY EVENING...THEN DIMINISHING OVERNIGHT. AT THIS TIME ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ON THE LIGHT SIDE...GENERALLY UNDER 2 INCHES. SNOW WILL ALSO BE DECREASING OVER THE MOUNTAINS SATURDAY NIGHT WITH ANOTHER COUPLE OF INCHES EXPECTED. IMPROVING CONDITIONS ON SUNDAY BUT CONTINUED SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS AND WINDY OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS. CONTINUED COLD TEMPERATURES ACROSS MUCH OF EASTERN COLORADO THROUGH TUESDAY AS COLD AIR CONTINUES TO FILTER DOWN FROM CANADA. A WARMING TREND IS EXPECTED TOWARDS THE END OF NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. ET/SWE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 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: 5383097, 5383098, 5383099.