5 to 11 inches of snow fell across the mountains of southeast Utah per SNOTEL data and weather spotter reports.
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.
5 to 11 inches of snow fell across the mountains of southeast Utah per SNOTEL data and weather spotter reports.
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 4, 2:20 PM MST, 5 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 220 PM MST SAT DEC 4 2004 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY)...HIGH CLOUDS FAST APPROACHING FROM THE SOUTHWEST IN RESPONSE TO UPPER LEVEL CIRCULATION OFF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST. EXPECT THIS WAVE TO KICK OUT AND LIFT NORTHEAST ACROSS THE FOUR CORNERS LATE TONIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING. CURRENT PRESSURE FALLS OVER SE UTAH ARE MATCHING LATEST MODEL SFC PRESSURE...WHICH SUPPORTS CURRENT THINKING. AS AIR MASS SATURATES... PRECIP WILL DEVELOP BY MIDNIGHT ACROSS SE UTAH/SW COLO. EXPECT TEMPS TO BE COLD ENOUGH FOR ALL SNOW. BEST PERIOD OF H5-3 PVA (LIFT) OCCURS BETWEEN 06Z-12Z WHERE SNOW COULD BECOME MORE STEADY. MINOR SNOW ACCUMULATIONS LIKELY ACROSS THE SAN JUAN MTS AND SURROUNDING VALLEYS. MIN TEMPERATURES WILL BE TRICKY TONIGHT. TEMPS AND DEWPTS ARE RUNNING ABOUT 5F DEGREES HIGHER THAN YESTERDAY. HIGH CLOUDS WILL BLANKET THE AREA THIS EVENING KEEPING TEMPS FROM DROPPING AS RAPIDLY. THEREFORE MIN TEMPS WILL BE ABOUT 5-10F DEGREES WARMER FROM THIS MORNING...ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF I-70. SUNDAY...UPR WAVE LIFTS AWAY FROM THE AREA AS SPLITTING PACIFIC TROUGH MOVES INLAND. SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL PERSIST IN THE MOUNTAINS WITHIN MOIST/ UNSTABLE AIR MASS. SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...SPLIT TROUGH ATTEMPTS TO MERGE ACROSS THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST. MOIST/UNSTABLE AIR MASS WILL SUPPORT MORE SNOW. OROGRAPHICS MARGINAL BUT WILL FAVOR SOUTHWEST-FACING SLOPES SUNDAY NIGHT...THEN SHIFT TO WEST-NORTHWEST SLOPES MONDAY BEHIND TROUGH PASSAGE. THOUGH LACK OF UPR JET SUPPORT AND SIGNIFICANT SURFACE FEATURES EXIST WITH THIS SYSTEM (ACROSS ERN UT/WRN CO)...POTENTIAL FOR ADVISORY LEVEL SNOWFALL COULD BE MET DURING THIS TIME PERIOD MAINLY DUE TO EXTENDED DURATION OF SNOWFALL IN THE MOUNTAINS. DJN.83 .LONG TERM (MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY)... LONGWAVE TROUGH SLIDES EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA MONDAY NIGHT...WITH PRECIPITATION WINDING DOWN FROM WEST TO EAST EARLY IN THE EVENING. THE EXCEPTION WL BE ALONG THE DIVIDE OVER THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS WHERE SOME LIGHT SNOW WL LINGER IN WEAK OROGRAPHICS AS FLOW COMES AROUND TO THE NORTHWEST. SHORTWAVE RIDGING BUILDS IN ON TUESDAY OFFERING THE DRIEST DAY OF THE NEW WORK WEEK. TEMPS WL REMAIN ON THE COOL SIDE WITH STRONG VALLEY INVERSIONS BECOMING RE-ESTABLISHED WITH QUICK WARM-UP ALOFT. HAVE UNDERCUT CURRENT MOS FCSTS BY SEVERAL DEGREES. PATTERN BECOMES A BIT MORE PROGRESSIVE STARTING LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AS THE SHRTWV RIDGE SHIFTS EAST INTO THE PLAINS. FLOW FLATTENS WITH A SERIES OF WEAK WAVES PASSING THROUGH THE REGION. LEAD WAVE MOVES THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING...WITH THE LATEST GFS RUN INDICATING ANOTHER SPLITTING SYSTEM. BEST DYNAMICS GET DRIVEN SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA...ALTHOUGH DECENT MOISTURE IS EXPECTED TO ACCOMPANY THE SYSTEM. COMBINATION OF WEAK DYNAMICS AND INCREASED JET ENERGY WL SUFFICE FOR CHC POPS OVER MUCH OF THE FCST AREA STARTING LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH THE DAY ON WEDNESDAY. ONCE THIS SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH...WEAK SURGES OF MOISTURE WL MOVE THROUGH EVERY 12 TO 18 HOURS...KEEPING LIGHT OROGRAPHIC SNOW IN THE FCST OVER THE NRN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. OTHERWISE...DRIER AND SLIGHTLY WARMER CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. SOME QUESTION STILL IN REGARDS TO THE STRENGTH OF VALLEY INVERSIONS LATER IN THE WEEK... ALTHOUGH PASSING WAVES WL HELP TO MIX THINGS UP...SO HAVE UNDERCUT MEDIUM RANGE GUIDANCE SLIGHTLY VERSUS THE MAJOR CUTS WE HAVE BEEN MAKING LATELY. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...NONE. .UT...NONE. && DJN/JDC
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 938 AM MST SAT DEC 4 2004 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-051245- 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- 938 AM MST SAT DEC 4 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... SNOW WILL OVERSPREAD THE FOUR CORNERS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY WITH ACCUMULATING SNOW EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGH VALLEYS... MAINLY SOUTH OF I-70. THE CHANCE OF SNOW WILL EXIST AGAIN WEDNESDAY AS A SERIES OF PACIFIC SYSTEMS CROSS THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. 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 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, December 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: 5429905.