Snowfall of 7 to 12 inches occurred across the mountains of southeast Utah per SNOTEL observations and Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center personnel.
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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.
Snowfall of 7 to 12 inches occurred across the mountains of southeast Utah per SNOTEL observations and Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center personnel.
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 Feb 25, 3:23 AM MST, 11 hours 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 323 AM MST FRI FEB 25 2005 .SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT)... BROAD AND ELONGATED CLOSED LOW SITUATED FROM THE SIERRA TO NWRN NEW MEXICO...WITH A FEW SMALL CIRCULATIONS EMBEDDED INSIDE THE 561DM H5 CONTOUR. MOST NOTABLE FOR FOR THE SRN ZONES IS THE CIRCULATION OVER EXTREME NRN NEW MEXICO. NONE OF THE SURFACE OBSERVATIONS SHOWING ANY PCPN AT 09Z...BUT RADAR DEPICTING ISOLATED ECHO RETURNS OVER THE WRN SAN JUANS AND LA SAL MOUNTAINS. RETURN SE FLOW OVER THE SRN ONE-THIRD OF OUR FORECAST AREA WILL BE IMPACTED...HOWEVER CANNOT GET TOO EXCITED WITH AREAL COVERAGE AS ENHANCED CLOUD MASS IS SMALL. PLENTY OF BROKEN LAYERED CLOUDS...BUT NOT MUCH PCPN EXPECTED THIS MORNING. AREAL COVERAGE SHOULD INCREASE INTO THE SCATTERED RANGE AS SURFACE HEATING HELPS TO FIRE SOME CONVECTION WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED THUNDER. DEFORMATION AXIS IS POSITIONED FROM GREEN RIVER TO GUNNISON WITH GENERALLY CLEAR CONDITIONS NORTH OF THIS LINE. BUT DEFORMATION AXIS SLOWLY RETREATS NORTHWARD TODAY WITH SOME CLOUDS REACHING THE NRN ZONES THIS AFTERNOON. GOOD AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE NAM AND GFS SOLUTIONS...SO CANNOT ARGUE TOO MUCH WITH THE TRENDS FOR TONIGHT AND THROUGH SATURDAY. CIRCULATION THAT IS POSITIONED OVER EXTREME NRN NEW MEXICO THIS MORNING IS PROGGED TO MOVE NORTHWARD TO NEAR ASPEN BY 12Z SATURDAY. WHILE DYNAMICS AND UPWARDS FORCING IS WEAK...POTENTIAL VORTICITY ALOFT WILL KEEP THE AIR MASS UNSETTLED. CHANCE POPS WILL COVER MOST OF OUR FORECAST AREA IN THE GRIDDED DATA...EXCEPT FOR LOWER POPS FOR THE UINTA AND YAMPA RIVER BASIN. THE HIGHEST THREAT OF PCPN WILL BE THE SWRN SAN JUANS WHERE THE BEST MOISTURE VALUES RESIDE. WEST COAST RIDGE AXIS SHIFTING INLAND WILL PUSH WEAK CLOSED LOW OUT OF OUR FORECAST AREA BY SUNDAY MORNING. SHOWERS WILL DECREASE FROM THE WEST SATURDAY EVENING...BUT SOME LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS MAY LAST THROUGH THE NIGHT NEAR THE DIVIDE. .LONG TERM (SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY)... MEDIUM RANGE MODELS HAVE UNDERGONE SOME ADJUSTMENTS SINCE YESTERDAY AT THIS TIME WHICH HAS REDUCED CONFIDENCE IN THE EXTENDED FORECAST. SUNDAY-SUNDAY NIGHT: LOW DRIFTS EAST OF THE DIVIDE WITH MOIST NORTHWEST FLOW CONTINUING ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE SYSTEM. LITTLE MORE THAN OROGRAPHIC LIFT TO KEEP SNOW SHOWERS GOING OVER THE MOUNTAINS...BUT AS LAPSE RATES REMAIN STEEP...THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH. MONDAY-MONDAY NIGHT: DRY AND SLIGHTLY WARMER TO BEGIN THE COMING WORK WEEK AS AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BUILDS OVERHEAD BRIEFLY AHEAD OF THE NEXT PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM. TUESDAY-FRIDAY: AS ALLUDED TO ABOVE...LATER PERIODS OF THE MEDIUM RANGE FORECAST HAVE UNDERGONE SOME SIGNIFICANT EVOLUTION FROM SOLUTIONS OFFERED 24 HOURS AGO. EC AND DGEX WERE IN BEST AGREEMENT THIS MORNING AND SAW THAT 06Z GFS HAS MOVED CLOSER TO THOSE SOLUTIONS. EC AND DGEX SHOWED POSITIVELY TILTED TROF FLATTENING THE RIDGE OVER THE AREA FROM MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY. THOUGH GFS HAS COME AROUND TO THIS SOLUTION OF LATE...STILL BELIEVE IT IS A BIT FAST WITH THE RE-INTRODUCTION OF MOISTURE. THEREFORE...WILL SLOW ONSET OF PRECIPITATION UNTIL TUESDAY FOR THE EASTERN UT ZONES AND WILL SPREAD CHANCES EASTWARD DURING THE DAY ON WEDNESDAY. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK MODELS SHOWED DIRTY RIDGE BUILDING WEST OF THE CWFA WITH THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS TO BE CONTINUALLY IMPACTED BY MOISTURE PUSHING THROUGH THE RIDGE. CONSEQUENTLY...HELD ONTO LOW MOUNTAIN CHANCES FOR THESE AREAS THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. LACK OF SIGNIFICANT TEMPERATURE ADVECTIONS WILL RESULT IN FAIRLY PERSISTENT TEMPERATURE FORECAST THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD WITH READINGS HOVERING NEAR NORMAL DURING THE COMING WEEK. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...NONE. .UT...NONE. && PF/NL
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 418 AM MST FRI FEB 25 2005 COZ001>010-013-UTZ023>025-027-261400- ARCHES/GRAND FLAT-CENTRAL COLORADO RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL YAMPA RIVER BASIN-DEBEQUE TO SILT CORRIDOR- EASTERN UINTA BASIN-EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS-FLAT TOPS- GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS- GRAND VALLEY-LOWER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-ROAN AND TAVAPUTS PLATEAUS- TAVAPUTS PLATEAU-UPPER YAMPA RIVER BASIN- 418 AM MST FRI FEB 25 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 70. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... SNOW IS LIKELY IN THE MOUNTAINS ON SATURDAY. ACCUMULATIONS WILL GENERALLY BE 2 INCHES OR LESS BUT MAY SLOW TRAVEL ACROSS MOUNTAIN PASSES. ALSO...THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF MOUNTAIN SNOW THROUGH FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. COZ011-012-014-017>023-UTZ022-028-029-261400- ANIMAS RIVER BASIN-CANYONLANDS/NATURAL BRIDGES- CENTRAL GUNNISON AND UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN- FOUR CORNERS/UPPER DOLORES RIVER-LA SAL AND ABAJO MOUNTAINS- NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-PARADOX VALLEY/LOWER DOLORES RIVER- SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN-SOUTHEAST UTAH-SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS- UNCOMPAHGRE PLATEAU AND DALLAS DIVIDE-UPPER GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY- WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS- 418 AM MST FRI FEB 25 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON WITH SMALL HAIL POSSIBLE. OTHERWISE...SCATTERED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE WITH SHOWERS BECOMING NUMEROUS OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS UP TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE IN THE SAN JUANS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... SCATTERED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS SOUTHEAST UTAH AND SOUTHWEST COLORADO SATURDAY...WITH SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS. ALSO...THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF MOUNTAIN SNOW TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THE FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. HOWEVER... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SEND IN ANY REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT RAIN OR SNOW.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, February 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: 5441139.