A moist southwest flow brought heavy snow and strong winds to the northern and central mountains of western Colorado. Snowfall amounts of 12 to 20 inches blanketed the area, while wind gusts of 20 to 50 mph created blowing and drifting snow.
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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 GJT wrote it up.
A moist southwest flow brought heavy snow and strong winds to the northern and central mountains of western Colorado. Snowfall amounts of 12 to 20 inches blanketed the area, while wind gusts of 20 to 50 mph created blowing and drifting snow. This storm came to an end during the afternoon of January 1, 2006. For a continuation of this event please see the January 2006 Storm Data publication.
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 30, 4:03 AM MST, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 403 AM MST FRI DEC 30 2005 .SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT)... PROGRESSIVE PATTERN CONTINUES. UPPER RIDGE WILL SLIDE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA TONIGHT AND SAT AS THE NEXT FAST MOVING PACIFIC SHORTWAVE MAKES LANDFALL THIS WEEKEND. THIS WILL BE ANOTHER MILD... WINDY...AND MOIST SYSTEM THAT SHOULD DAMPEN/WEAKEN SOME AS IT PUSHES THROUGH THE PERSISTENT LONGWAVE RIDGE OVER WRN NORTH AMERICA. THIS WAVE EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS ERN UT/WRN CO LATE SAT NIGHT. TEMPS TO REMAIN ON THE MILD SIDE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. ALREADY LARGE CLOUD SHIELD ACROSS THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST IN WARM AIR ADVECTION AND SHOULD SEE CLOUDS INCREASING ACROSS NE UT/NW CO TODAY. CLOUDS THICKEN AND LOWER ACROSS THE N TONIGHT UNDER WARM ADVECTION AND INCREASING MOISTURE IN WSW OROGPRAPHIC FLOW OF 30-40 KTS NORTH...BUT LACK OF ORGANIZED DYNAMICS IN A STABLE ATMS WILL RESULT IN ONLY A CHANCE OF MTN PCPN FOR THE N. WARM ADVECTION LIFT WANES BY SAT AFTN BUT CONTINUED 30-40KT WSW OROGRAPHIC LIFT ACROSS THE N AND MOISTURE SHOULD BRING SOME RAIN/SNOW TO THE HIGHER ELEVS OF THE N BY SAT AFTN...AND CONTINUING TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY SAT NIGHT AS COLDER AIR FINALLY ARRIVES LATE. THIS WILL RESULT IN RAIN/SNOW MIX FOR THE VALLEYS CHANGING OVER TO SNOW ACROSS THE N LATER SAT NIGHT. 00Z NAM SNOWFALL RATHER IMPRESSIVE AT THIS TIME FOR THE NW CO MTNS GIVEN AMPLE MOISTURE...AND PERHAPS LONGER DURATION OF MOISTURE THAN PREV STORMS. BUMPED UP SNOW AMTS SAT NIGHT BUT NO HIGHLIGHTS YET. AS IN THE LAST STORM...ERN UINTA MTNS SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE SHIELDED FROM THE BRUNT OF THE STORM BY THE HIGHER WASATCH AND WRN UINTAS. .LONG TERM (SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY)... TROUGH AXIS WILL BE DEPARTING COLORADO ON SUNDAY...BUT NORTHWEST FLOW AND INSTABILITY WILL KEEP SNOW SHOWERS ONGOING FOR THE NRN MOUNTAINS. BRIEF RESPITE SUNDAY NIGHT...THEN THE NEXT PACIFIC STORM WILL BE BEARING DOWN ON WRN COLORADO BY MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE MODELS ARE NOT AS STRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM AS THEY WERE LAST NIGHT... AND THAT CAN BE A CONCERN SINCE RECENT STORMS HAVE WEAKENED OR MOVED ACROSS THE FORECAST TOO QUICKLY AND HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GENERATE SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL. DESPITE A WEAKER SOLUTION... POSITIONING OF THE JET...GOOD MOISTURE TAP...AND THE SURFACE LOW TRACK SUGGEST THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD RAIN OR SNOW FOR NE UTAH AND NW COLORADO. THE LATEST MODEL GUIDANCE SHOW THIS SYSTEM MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AS IT CROSSES OUR FORECAST AREA...WHICH MEANS THAT THE SRN MOUNTAINS MAY GET CONSIDERABLY LESS SNOW THAN THE NRN MOUNTAINS. STRONG RIDGE BUILDING OVER THE GREAT BASIN ON WEDNESDAY...AND THEN SHIFTING TOWARD COLORADO ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY MEANS A RETURN TO DRY WEATHER. TEMPERATURES WILL BE ABOVE NORMAL FOR MOST AREAS... BUT STRONG INVERSIONS MAY IMPACT AREAS LIKE THE UINTA BASIN WITH FOGGY CONDITIONS. WILL HOLD OFF ON ADDING THIS POSSIBILITY TO THE GRIDDED DATA...THE AIR MASS BEHIND THE PACIFIC STORMS DO NOT HAVE MUCH COLD AIR. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...NONE. .UT...NONE. && JAD/PF
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 545 AM MST FRI DEC 30 2005 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-311245- 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- 545 AM MST FRI DEC 30 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY SNOW AND WIND RETURN TO THE MOUNTAINS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AS ANOTHER PACIFIC STORM CROSSES THE AREA. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AND AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW ARE EXPECTED FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHWEST COLORADO SATURDAY NIGHT....LIKELY CAUSING TRAVEL PROBLEMS OVER RABBIT EARS AND VAIL PASSES INTO SUNDAY. RAIN AND SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE AT THE LOWER VALLEY LOCATIONS THIS WEEKEND. YET ANOTHER STORM IS ANTICIPATED MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT. JAD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 winter storm. 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: 5485865, 5485866, 5485867, 5485868.