Very strong winds occurred in parts of the North-Central Mountains and Front Range Foothills. Peak wind gusts to 109 mph (95 kts) were recorded atop Kenosha Pass, with a gust to 91 mph (79 kts) registered at Brainard Lake.
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.
Very strong winds occurred in parts of the North-Central Mountains and Front Range Foothills. Peak wind gusts to 109 mph (95 kts) were recorded atop Kenosha Pass, with a gust to 91 mph (79 kts) registered at Brainard Lake.
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 Jan 12, 2:30 PM MST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 230 PM MST THU JAN 12 2006 .SHORT TERM DISCUSSION...TNGT-FRI...MDLS BUILD HI PRES AT SFC AND ALF OVR CNTRL RCKYS BEHIND UPR TROF MOVG TO E OVR CNTRL GRT PLAINS. AMS WILL BCM DRY AND STBL WITH DCRSG WNDS. SFC LEE TROFG WILL DVLP ALG ERN SLPS BY FRI AFTN. WITH CLRG SKIES AND SUBSIDING WNDS OVRNGT TEMPS WILL BE QUITE COOL ESPCLY IN HI MTN VLYS. STG WARMG ALF AFT MIDNGT TNGT AND THRU FRI WILL PRODUCE A RAPID WARM-UP ON FRI. WILL MAKE ONLY SML ADJSTMNTS TO MOS TEMP GDNC TNGT AND GENLY GO WITH H7 TEMPS ON FRI WHICH SHOW NEARLY PLUS 10C DEG OF WARMING OVR DEN. .LONG TERM DISCUSSION...OVERALL TIMING IN THE MDLS REMAIN FAIRLY CONSISTENT FROM RUN TO RUN. FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY...AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL BE THE PREVAILING FEATURE. FLOW ALOFT TRANSITIONS TO WEST/SOUTHWESTERLY SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT AS THE NEXT SYSTEM MOVES INTO NEVADA. THE GFS IS STILL BRINGING THE TROF ACROSS COLORADO ON SUNDAY WHILE THE NAM IS SLOER AND DROP THIS FEATURE INTO THE GREAT BASIN. FOR NOW WILL STICK WITH THE GFS SOLUTION. MDLS DO SHOW FVBL QG ASCENT AND GOOD MID LEVEL INSTBY ON SUNDAY AFTN...THE SUNDAY NIGHT THE UPPER TROF SHIFTS EAST AND SNOWFALL WL BECOME MORE OROGRAPHIC. IN ANY EVENT...NEITHER LOOKS PARTICULARLY STRONG...BUT THERE WILL BE ENUF FVBL INGREDIENTS TO BUMP THE POPS UP TO LIKELY FOR THE MTNS. AS FOR THE NORTHEAST PLAINS...THE GFS DOES SHOW A SFC CYLONE DEVELOPING OVER NWRN KANSAS. THIS WILL NOT MEAN MUCH FOR THE URBAN CORRIDOR...BUT SOME WRAP AROUND MSTR MAY IMPACT THE PLAINS. A DRIER NLY FLOW WILL OCCUR MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY AHEAD OF ANOTHER RIDGE. THE RIDGE AXIS WILL BE OVER COLORADO TUESDAY BUT OVERUNNING MSTR IS PROGGED TO MOVE BACK INTO THE MTNS BY 00Z WEDNESDAY. THE NEXT SYSTEM IS STILL EXPECTED TO AFFECT COLORADO BY MID WEEK. WILL UP POPS TO CHC IN THE MTNS WED INTO THUR...WITH A SLIGHT CHC ACROSS THE PLAINS. .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && GARD/COOPER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1037 AM MST THU JAN 12 2006 COZ030>051-131300- 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- 1037 AM MST THU JAN 12 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT LIGHT SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS WILL DECREASE TO SCATTERED SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON AND END BY EARLY THIS EVENING. STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS WILL CAUSE LOCAL BLOWING SNOW OVER HIGHER ELEVATIONS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. WINDS WILL INCREASE OVER THE URBAN CORRIDOR AND PLAINS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. WINDS WILL BE FROM THE NORTHWEST AT SPEEDS OF 15 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH. THE WINDS WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE DURING THE EARLY EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THE NEXT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION FOR THE FORECAST AREA WILL BE ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY. AT THIS TIME...THE STORM DOES NOT LOOK SIGNIFICANT. .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 high wind. 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, January 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: 5487425, 5487424.