Peak wind reports included 75 mph (65 kts), 5 miles north-northwest of Chatfield, 66 mph (57 kts), 16 miles east of Nunn, 64 mph (56 kts) at Denver International Airport, 61 mph (53 kts), 4 miles east of Haxtun, and 60 mph (52 kts) at Hereford.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 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.
Peak wind reports included 75 mph (65 kts), 5 miles north-northwest of Chatfield, 66 mph (57 kts), 16 miles east of Nunn, 64 mph (56 kts) at Denver International Airport, 61 mph (53 kts), 4 miles east of Haxtun, and 60 mph (52 kts) at Hereford.
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 Dec 29, 3:10 AM MST, 5 hours 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 310 AM MST THU DEC 29 2005 .SHORT TERM...UPPER TROF ALREADY MOVING ACROSS THE CWFA THIS MORNING. RIBBON OF RADAR ECHOES OVER THE NORTHEAST PLAINS EARLY THIS MORNING...CORRESPONDS WELL WITH THE UPWARD QG OMEGA IN THE RUC QG ANALYSIS. WITH THIS SAID...NO PCPN RECORDED BY ANY OF THE METAR OBSERVATIONS THIS MORNING SO WILL ASSUME THIS IS VIRGA. FOR THIS REASON WILL DROP THE ISOLATED POPS OVR THE NERN PLAINS TODAY. IN THE MOUNTAINS...RADAR ECHOES CONTINUE TO ENHANCE THIS MORNING. SPATIAL CROSS-SECTIONS INDICATE A GOOD LAYER OF MSTR WEST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE TDA WITH 700 MB WINDS IN IN THE 35 KTS RANGE. GOOD MID LEVEL INSTABILITY AS WELL OF 7-7.5C/KM. BASED OFF THESE VALUES THE SNOW MDL CRANKED OUT 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW OVER 12 HRS TDA. OROGRAPHICS WILL BE THE DRIVING FORCE FOR SNOW TDA AS THE FVBL DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROF APPEAR TO HAVE ALREADY PASSED. IN ANY EVENT...CURRENT SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVSY LOOKS ON TRACK. ANOTHER AREA OF CONCERN TODAY WILL BE THE WIND ALONG THE FRONT RANGE AND NORTHEAST PLAINS LATER THIS MORNING AND THIS AFTN. FVBL SET UP FOR A BORA WIND EVENT IS STILL EVIDENT. MDLS SHOW STG SUBSIDENCE FOLLOWING THE PASSAGE OF THE UPPER TROF...GOOD MID LVL INSTBY FOR MIXING HIGHER VELOCITY WINDS TO THE SFC AND A FAIRLY STG SFC PRESSURE GRADIENT ACROSS THE NORTHEAST PLAINS THIS AFTN. COULD BE MARGINAL FOR A HIGH WIND EVENT. WILL BUMP WINDS TO NEAR HIGH WIND CRITERIA BUT HOLD OFF ON ISSUING A WATCH AT THIS TIME. GUSTS IN THE FOOTHILLS COULD APPROACH 70 MPH. AS FOR TNGT...SHOULD SEE WINDS DIE OFF AS THEY DECOUPLE THIS EVENING AND SFC PRESSURE GRADIENT RELAXES. ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL COULD LINGER INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS...BUT SHOULD SEE THIS DECREASE SIGNICANTLY OVERNIGHT AS THE AMS STABILIZES WITH WAA AT 700 MB DEVELOPING AFTER MIDNIGHT. .LONG TERM DISCUSSION...A VERY PROGRESSIVE PATTERN IN PLACE ACROSS THE COUNTRY WITH FAST MOVING WAVES AFFECTING CO WEATHER ABOUT EVERY 3 DAYS. AMAZINGLY SO...MODELS HAVE BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENT WITH THE PASSING WAVES AND TIMING NOT BAD EITHER. HENCE...VERY FEW CHANGES NEEDED TO CURRENT ZONES. FOLLOWING TODAYS TROF...HIGH PRESSURE REBUILDS ACROSS COLORADO ON FRI-SAT. STRONG MID LVL WARMING ON FRI AND FRI NITE WITH MOUNTAIN TOP STABILITY STRENGTHENING FRI NITE IN THE 650-700MB LAYER. CROSS MTN TOP FLOW STRENGTHENS TO 40-50KT SO CONTINUED GUSTY WINDS IN THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS. NO HIGH WIND WATCHES AT THIS TIME. NEXT SYSTEM MOVES RAPIDLY ACROSS CO ON SAT NITE AND SUNDAY WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF SNOW/WINDS IN THE MTNS AND COOLER TEMPS ACROSS LOWER ELEVATIONS ON SUNDAY. CONTINUED LOW POPS OVER THE FLAT LANDS WITH LITTLE OR NO UPSLOPE FLOW AND LIMITED MSTR. RIDGE AGAIN ON MONDAY THEN THE NEXT SYSTEM ON TUESDAY. CURRENT FORECASTS HAVE THIS TIMING PRETTY GOOD. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS THROUGH 6 PM MST TODAY...ZONES 31..33..AND 34. && COOPER/ENTREKIN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 525 AM MST THU DEC 29 2005 COZ030>051-291800- 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- 525 AM MST THU DEC 29 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WIDESPREAD SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL OCCUR IN THE MOUNTAINS TODAY ...DECREASING THIS EVENING. TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. AS A RESULT...A SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH 6 PM TODAY. AS FOR THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND ADJACENT PLAINS...WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL BE INCREASING TO 20 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS ANYWHERE FROM 50 MPH ON THE NORTHEAST PLAINS TO 70 MPH IN THE FOOTHILLS EXPECTED TODAY. A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVING ACROSS NORTHERN COLORADO THIS MORNING WILL BRING SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES IN THE MOUNTAINS...AND STRONG WINDS TO THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND NORTHEAST PLAINS. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A SERIES OF PACIFIC STORM SYSTEMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE ON SUNDAY AND TUESDAY WITH JUST A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW ACROSS LOWER ELEVATIONS. .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 high wind. 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: 5482654, 5482655, 5482656, 5482658, 5482657.