A potent spring storm brought blizzard conditions areas east of Denver and south of Interstate 76, with near blizzard conditions reported elsewhere. The combination of heavy snow and strong wind forced the closure of Denver International Airport, stranding thousands of travelers.
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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.
A potent spring storm brought blizzard conditions areas east of Denver and south of Interstate 76, with near blizzard conditions reported elsewhere. The combination of heavy snow and strong wind forced the closure of Denver International Airport, stranding thousands of travelers. Large stretches of Interstates 25, 70 and 76 were also closed due to extensive blowing and drifting snow. Snow amounts ranged from 1 to 2.5 feet in and near Front Range Foothills and Palmer Divide, with snow drifts from 2 to 5 feet in depth. Downed power lines caused scattered electrical outages. In the Front Range Foothills and Palmer Divide: Storm totals included: 31 inches, 4 miles west northwest of Conifer, 27.5 inches at Aspen Springs, 25.5 inches, 5 miles south-southeast of Sedalia and 3 miles north of Blackhawk, 25 inches, 3 miles southwest of Bergen Park and around Genesee, 24.5 inches at Pine Junction and Roxborough Park, 24 inches, 7 miles southwest of Boulder, 23.5 inches at Ken Caryl, 23 inches at Crow Hill and 7 miles west of Larkspur, 4 miles south of Evergreen and 4 miles northeast of Nederland, 18.5 inches, 8 miles south of Sedalia, 18 inches at Eldorado Springs and 3 miles northeast of Castle Rock, 17 inches, 3 miles north of Chatfield Reservoir and Perry Park, 16 inches, 3 miles west of Jamestown, with 14 inches at Lone Tree.Across the remainder of the Urban Corridor and Northeast Plains storm totals included: 25 inches, 2 miles southwest of Golden, 23 inches near Strasburg, 22.5 inches in Aurora, 22 inches at Bennett, 21 inches at Eldora Ski Area, 20.5 inches, 2 miles southwest of Byers, 20 inches, 2 miles northwest of Arapahoe Park, Centenniel, Littleton and South Denver, 19 inches, 7 miles northwest of Last Chance, 17.5 inches, 4 miles southeast of Bennett, 16 inches, 5 miles northeast of Thornton, 15 inches at Lakewood and Wiggins, 14.5 inches, 2 miles southeast of Englewood and Wheat Ridge, 14 inches in Arvada, 13.5 inches at Platteville, with 6 to 12 inches elsewhere.
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 10, 3:15 AM MST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
415 AM MDT SUN APR 10 2005
.SHORT TERM...SYSTEM IS SLOWER THAN EXPECTED BY 3-6 HOURS. THIS HAS
DELAYED BOTH THE WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION DEVELOPMENT AND COOLING.
SIGNS ALL THIS IS STARTING TO HAPPEN IN THE LAST HOUR. I WILL JUST
SLOW EVERYTHING DOWN. HARD TO TELL IF THE DELAY MEANS LESS SNOWFALL
FOR THE STORM AS A WHOLE. IT WILL PROBABLY BE SLOWER TO END AS
WELL...SO I WILL STICK WITH WHAT WE HAD FOR THE MOST PART. TWO
EXCEPTIONS...THE TIMING OF THE RAIN/SNOW CHANGEOVER IN AREAS BELOW
4000 FEET PUSHED BACK TOWARD TONIGHT AND THE TIMING OF THE
PRECIPITATION BAND ADVANCING INTO AREAS EAST OF STERLING AND LIMON.
CAUGHT IN A DILEMMA OVER THE HIGHLIGHTS AS THERE SHOULD BE PLENTIFUL
QPF AND WIND...BUT WITH STRONG WINDS TRYING TO BLOW AROUND VERY WET
SNOW MAY NOT TECHNICALLY MEET EITHER THE BLIZZARD WARNING OR HEAVY
SNOW CRITERIA. WENT TO THE BLIZZARD WARNING WHERE THE THREAT SEEMED
MOST CERTAIN...PALMER DIVIDE AREA.
.LONG TERM...ALL OF THE WEATHER ACTION WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE FIRST
TWO PERIODS OF THE FORECAST PACKAGE. MAIN QUESTION FOR THE THIRD
PERIOD IS WHEN THE PRECIPITATION EVENT BEGINS WINDING DOWN. OVER
THE EASTERN U.S...A BLOCKING RIDGE BUILDING OVER EASTERN CANADA WILL
CAUSE THE UPPER LEVEL LOW WITH TODAYS STORM TO STALL OVER THE
CENTRAL PLAINS. AS THE UPPER LOW STALLS AND ELONGATES ON
MONDAY...PRECIPITATION WRAPPING AROUND THE BACK SIDE OF THE LOW WILL
CONTINUE OVER THE FAR NORTHEAST. WILL MAINTAIN THE HIGH POPS AND
COOLER TEMPERATURES FOR MY EASTERN TIER OF ZONES THROUGH MOST OF
MONDAY. BY LATER MONDAY NIGHT...ENOUGH UPPER RIDGING MOVES OVER THE
STATE FROM THE WEST TO TURN OFF ALL PRECIPITATION AND BEGIN WARMING
TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE FORECAST TUESDAY.
WITH EMPHASIS ON CURRENT WEATHER SITUATION...NO BIG CHANGES WERE
MADE TO REMAINDER OF FORECAST PACKAGE.
&&
.BOU...BLIZZARD WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT PALMER DIVIDE AREA...ZONES
41..45..46.
BLIZZARD WARNING THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SOUTHERN LINCOLN
AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES...ZONES 47 AND 49.
WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY FRONT RANGE...SOUTH PARK...
FOOTHILLS AND URBAN CORRIDOR...ZNS 33>40.
WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT NE WELD AND MORGAN
COUNTIES...ZONES 42 AND 44.
WINTER STORM WARNING THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT LOGAN
COUNTY...ZONE 48.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TODAY GRAND AND JACKSON COUNTIES...
ZONES 30>32.
WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT SEDGWICK AND PHILLIPS
COUNTIES...ZONES 50 AND 51.
&&
/NGIMMESTAD/DANKERSHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1002 AM MDT SAT APR 09 2005 COZ030>051-101200- 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- 1002 AM MDT SAT APR 09 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON ALONG WITH A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. ANY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE IN THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS AND WILL BE LIGHT. ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ON THE PLAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL CAUSE PRECIPITATION TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY THROUGH THIS EVENING...WITH HEAVY SNOW ON THE EAST SLOPES OF THE FRONT RANGE. RAIN WILL CHANGE TO SNOW IN THE FRONT RANGE CITIES OVERNIGHT...WITH HEAVY SNOW POSSIBLE DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS ...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE FOOTHILLS. ON THE PLAINS THERE WILL BE A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY WIDESPREAD SNOW WILL CONTINUE ON SUNDAY OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT PLAINS...WHILE THE RAIN AND SNOW MIX ON THE FAR EASTERN PLAINS WILL TURN TO ALL SNOW BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED WITH 15 TO 30 INCHES OF SNOW OVER THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND HIGHER EAST SLOPES OF THE MOUNTAINS. ACROSS THE URBAN CORRIDOR...6 TO 12 INCHES IS EXPECTED WITH UP TO 18 INCHES OVER THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF THE DENVER AREA. FURTHER EAST...LESSER AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES IS POSSIBLE WITH TEMPERATURES A BIT WARMER THERE. STRONG NORTH WINDS OF 20 TO 35 MPH WILL CREATE POOR VISIBILITIES AND BLOWING SNOW. THE HEAVY SNOW WILL SLOWLY SHIFT EASTWARD SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY WITH STILL SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT OVER THE FAR PLAINS. SNOW WILL END OVER EASTERN SECTIONS BY MONDAY AFTERNOON WITH DRIER AND WARMER CONDITIONS RETURNING TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. COOPER/ENTREKIN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2005
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: 5444845, 5445201, 5445202, 5445203, 5445204.