Very strong downslope winds developed along the Front Range causing numerous accidents and extensive property damage to roofs and aluminum sheds. Three semi trucks near the Interstate 70 and Colorado Highway 470 interchange were toppled by strong winds.
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.
Very strong downslope winds developed along the Front Range causing numerous accidents and extensive property damage to roofs and aluminum sheds. Three semi trucks near the Interstate 70 and Colorado Highway 470 interchange were toppled by strong winds. One of the trucks was carrying a modular home while another was hauling hazardous material. Interstate 70 had to be closed in both directions until the accidents could be cleaned up. Along State Highway 93, strong winds forced the closure of the highway between Golden and Boulder as roads became icy and snowpacked from localized ground blizzards. Another semi truck was blown over near the intersection of State Highways 72 and 93. Scattered power outages were reported across northern and western sections of the Denver Metropolitan area, affecting approximately 2,000 residents. In Boulder, several pine trees were also uprooted by the high winds.Peak wind reports included: 123 mph (107 kts), 2 miles north of Georgetown, 100 mph (87 kts), 5 miles west of Ward, 98 mph (85 kts), 7 miles northwest of Ward, 90 mph (78 kts), 3 miles south of Boulder and 6 miles northwest of Arvada, 88 mph (77 kts), 2 miles west of Boulder, 83 mph (72 kts) at Rustic and 78 mph (68 kts) at Nederland.
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 Mar 5, 2:55 PM MST, 11 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 255 PM MST FRI MAR 5 2004 .SHORT TERM...TNGT-SAT...MDLS CONSISTENT IN SHOWING STG SHT WV MOVG ACRS NRN RCKYS TNGT AND SAT. STG JET STREAM WILL PUSH INTO WY AND INCREASE WNDS ALF ACRS CNTRL RCKYS. IN ADV OF SFC LO PRES CNTR SLIDING S ALG ERN SLP MTNS...CROSS MTN SFC PRES WILL INCREASE. THIS IS REFLECTED IN FCST SANGSTER VALUES FROM MESOETA IN THE WATCH/WRNG CATEGORIES FM MIDNIGT THRU MID AFTN SAT. BROWN-WEAVER HI WND MDL GAVE GUD PROBS OF WND AND VALUES AT FCL OF 71-72 MPH ON SAT. SINCE EVENT WILL NOT BEGIN UNTIL AFT MIDNIGHT WILL LEAVE WATCH FOR NOW AND LET SWING SHIFT HOIST WARNING IF NECESSARY. MDLS ALSO SHW SUM SNW MTNS. WILL KEEP AMTS IN 1-3 RANGE BOTH TNGT AND SAT. WILL MENTION AREAS OF BLOWING SNW IN MTNS AND IN AND NR ERN FTHLLS WHERE STG WNDS MAY BLOW EXISTING SNW ARND. WITH GUD WARMING ALF TEMPS WILL WARM ON PLAINS INTO LO 50S. WUD SEE EVEN WARMER TEMPS IF IT WERE NOT FOR SNW CVR NEAR ERN FTHLLS. WILL GENERALLY UNDERCUT MOS TEMP GUIDANCE. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY NIGHT A STRONG NORTHWESTERLY FLOW WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE AS THE UPPER JET PASSES TO THE NORTH AND EAST OF COLORADO. SPATIAL CROSS-SECTIONS SHOW SUFFICIENT MOISTURE AOB 600 MB AND WIND FOR SCT POPS...BOTH OF WHICH WILL BE ON THE DECREASE AFTER MIDNIGHT. SPATIAL CROSS-SECTIONS NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE FOR STRONG DOWNSLOPE WINDS...BUT WINDY CONDITIONS SHOULD PERSIST... MAINLY ABOVE TIMBERLINE AND IN THE HIGHER FOOTHILLS. AS FOR THE NORTHEASTERN PLAINS...A WEAK SURGE MOVING INTO THE CWA SATURDAY AFTERNOON WILL SHIFT THE SFC LOW FURTHER SOUTH...WEAKENING THE SFC PRESSURE GRADIENT ALONG THE FRONT RANGE. AS A RESULT...THE WIND SHOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE ALONG THE URBAN CORRIDOR. A FAIRLY UNEVENTFUL PATTERN DEVELOPS SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WITH A WEAKER WEST TO NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALF ASSOCIATED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE WEST. THE MRF DOES HINT AT A SHORT WAVE POSSIBLY MOVING ACROSS THE REGION THURSDAY FM THE NORTHWEST. FOR NOW...WILL MAKE SOME SLIGHT ADJUSTMENTS TO TEMPERATURES FOR THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY AND INCREASE THE CLOUD COVER SOME...OTHERWISE WILL MAINTAIN A DRY FORECAST. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...HI WND WATCH MTNS...ERN FTHLLS... WRN PTNS URBAN CORRIDOR LATE TNGT AND SAT...ZNS 33..34..35..36.. 38..39. GARD/COOPER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1048 AM MST FRI MAR 05 2004 COZ030>051-061300- 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- 1048 AM MST FRI MAR 05 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW SHOWERS WILL REDEVELOP IN THE MOUNTAINS TONIGHT WITH ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF AN INCH OR TWO. WINDS WILL INCREASE IN THE MOUNTAINS TONIGHT AS THE FLOW ALOFT INCREASES AND THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT TIGHTENS EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS. WEST WINDS AT SPEEDS OF 30 TO 50 MPH WITH GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 75 MPH ARE POSSIBLE IN THE MOUNTAINS AND IN AND NEAR THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS ESPECIALLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. THE STRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAIN PASSES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY STRONG WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED OVER THE MOUNTAINS ...FOOTHILLS...AND ADJACENT PLAINS ON SATURDAY. WIND SPEEDS OF 20 TO 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 70 MPH IN THESE AREAS...ESPECIALLY DURING THE MORNING SATURDAY. SNOW WILL BE LIKELY OVER THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 9000 FEET ON SATURDAY WITH ACCUMULATIONS UP TO 2 INCHES POSSIBLE. THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY DECREASE BY SATURDAY EVENING. PRECIPITATION IS NOT EXPECTED FROM SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ACROSS THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. GARD/COOPER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind. 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, March 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: 5390171, 5390174, 5390173, 5390172.