A winter storm brought heavy snow to the portions of the North-Central Mountains. Storm totals included: 15 inches at Winter Park, 14 inches at Columbine and 13 inches at Breckenridge.
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 BOU wrote it up.
A winter storm brought heavy snow to the portions of the North-Central Mountains. Storm totals included: 15 inches at Winter Park, 14 inches at Columbine and 13 inches at Breckenridge.
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 Feb 3, 2:20 PM MST, 12 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 220 PM MST FRI FEB 3 2006 .SHORT TERM DISCUSSION...TNGT-SAT...MDLS BLD UPR RDG OVR CNTRL RCKYS THRU PRD. STG NWLY FLO ALF THIS AFTN ALG WITH WK SHT WV AND JET STRM ALF HAVE INDUCED SOME SHWRS OVR PLAINS WHICH WILL CONT INTO EVE PRD. RADAR SHWS SNW CONTINUING IN MTNS WHERE STG WNDS WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLWG SNW THRU THE EVE. SNW WILL DIMINISH TO SCT SHWRS MTNS AFT MDNGT. AFT A CHILLY NGT...SAT WILL BE WRMR WITH NRLY 10C DEG WARMING AT H7 LVL BY SAT AFTN. WITH SFC LEE TROFG AND DWNSLP FLO ALG ERN SLPS TEMPS OVR URBAN CORRIDOR WILL WRM TO NR 60 DEGS. WILL GO MUCH ABV MOS TEMP VALUES ON SAT. .LONG TERM DISCUSSION...SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY...A STRONG WLY FLOW WILL BE OVER COLORADO AS THE NEXT SYSTEM IS PROGGED TO PASS OVER THE STATE. BOTH MDLS BRING INDICATE A 120+ KT JET DROPPING FM NW TO SE ACRS THE STATE. THE NAM HAS A LONGER PERIOD OF FVBL QG OMEGA FM 06Z TO 18Z...WHILE THE GFS SEEMS TO DCRS THE OMEGA AFTER 12Z. BEST MID LEVEL INSTABILITY IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NAM AS WELL WITH MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES OF 6-7C/KM THRU 18Z SUNDAY THEN IT INCREASES TO AROUND 8C/KM THE REST OF THE AFTN. THE GFS IS A BIT MORE STABLE AND DROPS THE UPPER JET FURTHER S THEN THE NAM AS WELL. THE SNOW AMOUNTS GENERATED BY THE MDLS RANGE FM 6-12 INCHES THROUGH 00Z MONDAY. THE RHEA/THALER SNOW MDL YIELDED AMTS OF 4 TO 6 INCHES IN 12 HRS. THE BEST TIME FOR OROGRAPHICS...OMEGA AND INSTABILITY LOOKS TO BE FM 06Z-18Z SUNDAY. WITH THESE AMOUNTS...I AM NOT INCLINED TO HOIST A WINTER STORM WATCH AT THIS TIME...BUT A SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVSY LOOKS LIKE A GOOD BET. WL NOT ISSUE THIS YET SINCE IT IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR LATE THIRD/FOURTH PERIODS. WINDS AT 700 MB ARE PROGGED TO BE IN THE 35-40KT RANGE. AS FOR THE URBAN CORRIDOR...THE INTERACTIVE SOUNDINGS INDICATE A BRIEF WINDOW OF UPSLOPE FM 15Z-18Z SUNDAY...BUT THE LWR LEVEL RMN DRY. BEST CHC FOR ANY SHOWERS WILL BE ALONG ZONES 35..36 AND 41. ISOLD POPS ELSEWHERE STILL LOOK OKAY. MAIN CONCERN FOR THE NORTHEASTERN PLAINS WL BE WIND. THE NAM INCREASES THE SFC PRESSURE GRADENT AS A SFC LOW FORM OVER THE TX/OK PANAHANDLES BY 18Z SUNDAY. IN ADDITION...STG WINDS AND SUBSIDENCE COUPLED WITH AFTN INSTABITY COULD ALLOW FOR FAIRLY STG BORA WINDS. SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY...A MDT TO STG NWLY FLOW IS EXPECTED TO RMN OVR COLORADO BUT IT SHUD BE DRIER AS THIS SYSTEM EXITS THE AREA AND AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE AMPLIFIES OVER THE WEST COAST. THE EXTENDED APPEARS TO BE DRY THROUGH WEDNESDAY....BUT NWLY FLOW CAN BE A LITTLE TRICKY. ONLY CHANGE IN THE EXTENDED WAS TO LOWER THE MAX TEMPERATURES A LITTLE EACH DAY. BY THURSDAY...THE RIDGE OVER THE WEST COAST AMPLIFIES FURTHER WITH AN UPPER LOW WINDING UP OVER THE GREAT LAKES. THE END RESULT...IS A STG NLY FLOW OVR COLORADO WITH A COLDER AMS FILTERING INTO THE NERN PLAINS THURSDAY. WL NOT DO MUCH WITH THIS YET...BUT IT WILL NEED TO BE WATCHED. THE LATEST GFS STILL KEEPS THE COLDEST AMS NE OF COLORADO. WARMER AND DRIER FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY AS THE FLOW ALOFT IS PROGGED TO AGAIN BECOME NWLY AS THE RIDGE DEAMPLIFIES AND SHIFTS EAST. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && GARD/COOPER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1045 AM MST FRI FEB 03 2006 COZ030>051-041300- 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- 1045 AM MST FRI FEB 03 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 9 THOUSAND FEET THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. NORTHWEST WINDS AT SPEEDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING AND MUCH DRIFTING SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LESS THAN 3 INCHES. THE SNOW WILL DECREASE TO SCATTERED SHOWERS THIS EVENING AND END BY MIDNIGHT. ISOLATED LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL SPREAD OVER THE PLAINS DURING THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. PRECIPITATION WILL BE VERY LIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE NEXT STORM WILL GET INTO THE FORECAST AREA SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. SNOW IS EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS ALONG WITH WIND AND BLOWING SNOW FROM SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. WIND AND ONLY ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED FOR THE PLAINS. DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK ACROSS ALL THE FORECAST AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. GARD/COOPER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, February 2006
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: 5490152, 5490153.