A strong spring storm brought heavy snow to parts of the North-Central Mountains and South Park, then intensified over the eastern plains of Colorado. As a result, near blizzard conditions developed east and southeast of Denver.
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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 strong spring storm brought heavy snow to parts of the North-Central Mountains and South Park, then intensified over the eastern plains of Colorado. As a result, near blizzard conditions developed east and southeast of Denver. North to northwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 mph were reported across eastern sections of Adam, Arapahoe, Elbert and Morgan Counties as well as southern Washington and Lincoln counties. Storm totals included: 14 inches, 4 miles south-southwest of Blue River, 13 inches at Lake George, 12 inches, 5 miles east-southeast of Bennett, 11 inches, 4 miles east-northeast of Shaw and 8 miles southeast of Lindon, 10 inches, 8 miles southwest of Lake George, 9 inches, 9 miles south of Limon, 8 inches, 5 miles east-northeast of Byers, 8 miles southwest of Bennett, around Castle Rock and at Karval, 7 inches, 5 miles south-southeast of Sedalia, 6 inches near Limon, 4 miles east of Parker and 17 miles south of Fort Morgan, with 5.5 inches reported 6 miles north-northeast of Woodrow. Extensive blowing snow caused near zero visibilities at times and produced snow drifts from 2 to 4 feet in depth.
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 Mar 30, 8:20 PM MST, 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 820 PM MST WED MAR 30 2005 .SHORT TERM...LATEST MDL RUNS STILL SHOW SOME HEAVY SNOW DEVELOPING SOUTH AND EAST OF THE DENVER METRO AREA TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING...SIMILAR TO THE 18Z DATA. HEAVY SNOW COUPLED WITH SOME STG SFC WINDS COULD MAKE FOR SOME HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS ALONG INTERSTATE 70 EAST OF DENVER AND ALONG INTERSTATE 76 AS WELL. MDLS CONTINUE TO SHOW STRONG QG ASCENT AND GOOD INSTABILITY AS WELL. THE DEGREE OF UPSLOPE IS STILL IN QUESTION SO FOR NOW WILL KEEP THE ADVISORIES GOING FOR THE MTNS AND FOOTHILLS AS THE LATEST ETA RUNS SHOWS ADVISORY TOTALS TONIGHT. BIGGEST CHANGES WILL BE OVER ZONES 41...46 AND 47 AS I WILL LIKELY UPGRADE TO A WINTER STORM WARNING...WITH WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES TO BE POSTED FOR ZONES 39..40..45 AND 49. WILL HEDGE ADVISORY AMOUNTS TO SRN SECTIONS OF ZONES 39 AND 40 WHERE THE BEST POTENTIAL FOR HEAVIER SNOWFALL EXISTS. NEXT SHIFT WILL NEED TO CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE WARNING AREA FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF BLIZZARD CONDITIONS LATE TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. THERE IS DOWNWARD MOTION PROGGED ON THE QG VERTICAL VELOCITY GRIDS ON THURSDAY. THE CROSS SECTIONS SHOW IT DRYING OUT...BUT NOT UNTIL AFTERNOON. ON THURSDAY WILL LET THINGS LINGER A BIT LONGER THEN PREVIOUS ZONES. FOR TEMPERATURES...GRIDS SHOW THURSDAYS HIGHS 2.5 TO 5.0 C COOLER THEN TODAYS. .LONG TERM...SYSTEM EXITING LATE THU. DRY AIR ALOFT WITH SUBSIDENCE INVERSION FOR CLEARING SKIES...LOWERED TEMPS A BIT MAINLY AREAS EXPECTED TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT SNOW COVER. PLENTY OF WARMING ALOFT WITH NEARLY CLEAR SKIES FRI/SAT. SNOW COVER MAY STILL BE A FACTOR ON FRI...MUCH LESS SO ON SAT. EVEN WITH THE MORE AGRESSIVE MODELS...ONLY SOME HIGH CLOUDS BRUSHING BY SUN SO IT STILL LOOKS LIKE THE WARMEST DAY. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE OPERATIONAL GFS OVER THE LAST 3 RUNS FROM EARLIER. GFS ENSEMBLES AND ECMWF HAVE ALSO BEEN SHOWING MORE DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTHERN STREAM...BUT MOST OF THE MEMBERS HAVE ONLY WEAK DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH. CANADIAN ENSEMBLES HAVE ALMOST NOTHING OVER US MONDAY...THEN SOME DEVELOPMENT OVER THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TUE. TRENDED FORECASTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ALL OF THIS...BUT NOT ANYTHING LIKE THE LAST COUPLE GFS RUNS. JUST LOW POPS AND A BIT COOLER WILL SUFFICE FOR NOW. PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT ON A SOLID RIDGE FOR MIDWEEK. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH THURSDAY NOON FOR THE PALMER DIVIDE...ZONES 41..46 AND 47 WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NORTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AS WELL AS PARTS OF THE NORTHEAST PLAINS THROUGH THURSDAY NOON...ZONES 31..33..34..36...39...40...45 AND 49. && COOPER/KOOPMEINERS/GIMMESTAD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1103 AM MST WED MAR 30 2005 COZ030>051-311300- 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- 1103 AM MST WED MAR 30 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MOUNTAINS AT THIS TIME WILL INCREASE BY EARLY AFTERNOON. WIDESPREAD SNOW IS EXPECTED IN THE HIGH COUNTRY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT FOR ELEVATIONS ABOVE 9000 FEET WHERE 4 TO 10 INCHES OF SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED. A FEW SPOTS MAY SEE MORE THAN A FOOT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE BRIEF BUT VERY INTENSE SNOWFALL ALONG WITH POOR VISIBILITIES. SNOW WILL BE LIKELY BY LATE AFTERNOON OVER THE PALMER RIDGE AND FOOTHILLS. ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 5 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE IN THESES AREAS BY DAWN. OVER THE PLAINS...SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THEY COULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. KOOPMEINERS/GIMMESTAD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 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, March 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: 5444601, 5444602, 5444603, 5444604, 5444605, 5444606, 5444607.