Natural and mitigation avalanches covered portions of Highway 550 near Red Mountain Pass and resulted in closure of the road for about one hour while debris was cleared. The slides covered portions of highway 550 with 2 to 6 feet of snow for distances of 20 to 115 feet.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
Natural and mitigation avalanches covered portions of Highway 550 near Red Mountain Pass and resulted in closure of the road for about one hour while debris was cleared. The slides covered portions of highway 550 with 2 to 6 feet of snow for distances of 20 to 115 feet.
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 18, 3:03 PM MST, 4 hours 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 303 PM MST SUN DEC 18 2005 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY)... ONGOING WAA EVENT OVER THE CWFA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. LOTS OF CLOUDS AND AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW CONTINUING. SNOW HAS BEEN FAIRLY PERSISTENT OVER THE EAGLE TO VAIL PASS AND THE CRAIG TO STEAMBOAT CORRIDOR. HOWEVER...ACCUMULATIONS HAVE BEEN SLOW AND STEADY. MEANWHILE...AREAS FARTHER THAN 25 TO 40 MILES SOUTH OF THE I-70 CORRIDOR HAVE BEEN ONLY MINIMALLY IMPACTED BY THIS PROTRACTED EVENT. TONIGHT-MONDAY: MID-LEVEL FLOW HAS VEERED TO THE NORTHWEST WHILE MORE ZONAL FLOW APPARENT AT 7H. OVERRUNNING WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT BRINGING PERIODS OF LIGHT SNOW TO THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS AND NORTHERN VALLEYS DURING THE NIGHT AND INTO MONDAY. AGAIN...EXPECT ACCUMULATIONS WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN BELOW 2 TO 4 INCHES ON AVERAGE FOR THE MOUNTAINS WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES IN THE HIGHER NORTHERN VALLEYS DURING EACH 12 HOUR PERIOD. THIS WILL BRING NEAR ADVISORY LEVELS OVER A 24 HOUR PERIOD...BUT WILL HOLD OFF ISSUING HILITES AS SNOWFALL RATE SEEMS INSUFFICIENT FOR ADVISORY FOR THE AFFECTED AREAS. MEANWHILE...SNOW WILL BE LESS WIDESPREAD AND MORE SPORADIC ACROSS THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS WHILE CHANCES ARE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS. WAA HAS ALREADY SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED THE CWFA AND MADE FEW ADJUSTMENTS TO WARMER FORECAST PUT FORTH LAST NIGHT. HOWEVER... BASED ON TODAYS TEMPS WARMED SOME AREAS UP JUST A BIT. MONDAY-NIGHT: NORTHWEST FLOW WILL PERSIST WHILE CONTINUING TO IMPACT MAINLY THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWFA. HOWEVER...MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH DURING THE PERIOD AND THEREFORE CONTINUED WITH DOWNWARD TREND IN POPS. MEANWHILE...7H TEMPS CONTINUE TO RISE AND SHOULD TRANSLATE TO WARMER SURFACE TEMPERATURES AS WELL. THIS TREND WAS ALREADY IN THE FORECAST AND MADE ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS. .LONG TERM (TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY)...THE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE GREAT BASIN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PERIOD FLATTENS AS IT SHIFTS EASTWARD WITH ITS AXIS REACHING THE UT/CO BORDER BY MIDDAY WED. GFS FLATTENS THE RIDGE A LITTLE MORE THAN THE NAM AS ENERGY/MOISTURE RIDES OVER THE TOP. IN THE NORTHWEST FLOW DOWNSTREAM OF THE RIDGE AXIS...CHANCE POPS WILL CONTINUE OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS THROUGH TUE NIGHT...DIMINISHING ON WED. MODELS THEN INDICATE THAT THE FLOW BECOMES ZONAL AS A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES IMPACT THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. MOST ENERGY WILL REMAIN TO OUR NORTH. HOWEVER ONE WAVE LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BRUSH THE NORTHERN EDGE DURING THE THU/FRI TIME-FRAME. THE PATTERN THEN AMPLIFIES AS THIS WAVE DEEPENS OVER THE MIDWEST AND RIDGING TAKES PLACE OVER THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST. LATEST GFS IS MOVING AWAY FROM THE IDEA OF ANY SNOWFALL LATE IN THE PERIOD. SO XMAS WILL ONLY BE WHITE AT LOCATIONS WHERE SNOW ALREADY COVERS THE GROUND. TEMPS APPEAR STEADY STATE THROUGH WEDNESDAY...THEN AS THE RIDGE BUILDS...SLOW WARM ADVECTION SHOULD OCCUR. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...NONE. .UT...NONE. && NL/EH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 400 AM MST SUN DEC 18 2005 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-181100- 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- 400 AM MST SUN DEC 18 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS TODAY...WHICH WILL INCREASE AND SPREAD SOUTHWARD TONIGHT TO INCLUDE THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. ACCUMULATIONS BY SUNDAY MORNING OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAIN PASSES WILL BE IN THE 1 TO 3 INCH RANGE. ROADS THROUGH THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS WILL BECOME LOCALLY ICY AND SNOWPACKED CAUSING IN HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT...SNOW IS LIKELY IN PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL COLORADO MOUNTAINS. FROM 2 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE CAUSING LOCALLY HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. THE IS A CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS OF UTAH AND THE BALANCE OF THE WESTERN COLORADO MOUNTAINS. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY IN THE EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS OF NORTHEAST UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO MOUNTAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT...BUT YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOW AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND JUNCTION. MC/CJC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 avalanche. 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, December 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: 5485863, 5485864.