An intense low pressure system moving along the Colorado/New Mexico border generated significant snow accumulations over the region. and road closures.
Every event with a place to put it; 15 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 PUB wrote it up.
An intense low pressure system moving along the Colorado/New Mexico border generated significant snow accumulations over the region. The heavy wet snow combined with high winds...causing numerous power outages...downed power lines...and road closures. Some of the heavier snow totals from this storm include...7 inches at Maysville in Chaffee County...12 to 14 inches in Westcliffe (Custer County)...Woodland Park (Teller County)...Sargents and Villa Grove (Saguache County). Sixteen to 20 inches of snow was measured near...Moffat (Alamosa County)...Silver Cliff (Custer County)...Monument (El Paso County) and Florissant (Teller County). Also...snow drifts to around four feet were noted in northern El Paso County. Nearly two feet of snow covered Black Forest (El Paso County)...and Crestone (Saguache County)...and Rosita (Custer County). In El Paso County...over 200 people were stranded...including 60 students from Miami-Yoder schools who were on a bus. Thousands of people in eastern El Paso County were without power...some for several weeks. Hundreds of electric transmission lines were downed.
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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 23, 7:44 PM MST, 4 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 844 PM MDT MON APR 23 2007 .UPDATE... PLANNING TO DO A QUICK UPDATE. CANCELING TORNADO WATCH SHORTLY FOR ALL OF SOUTHEAST CO. LOW LEVEL CAPPING INVERSION HAS PUT A LID ON THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ACROSS MUCH SOUTHEAST CO PLAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING DESPITE A LOT OF LOW LEVEL FUEL...SFC- PBL DEW POINTS IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 50S. ONLY AN AC CLOUD LAYER REMAINS HANGING OVER THE DRYLINE ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHEAST CO. MEANWHILE...THE PARENT SPRING STORM SYSTEM WAS OVER THE 4 CORNERS AREA AND SLOWLY MOVING EASTWARD. SOME OF THE NEW MODEL DATA ARE COMING IN...AND STILL PROMOTES A FAIRLY POTENT CYCLONE TRACKING ACROSS SOUTHERN CO ALONG CO/NM/OK BORDERS. H7-H6 AND H6-H5 TROWAL DEVELOPS OVER THE CENTRAL ROCKIES WITH SIGNIFICANT SYNOPTIC SCALE ASCENT...ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE TRACK OF THE SYSTEM. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL LIKELY BE DROPPING TO AROUND 8K OR 9K FT MSL LATE TONIGHT ACROSS MUCH OF THE MOUNTAINS...ESPECIALLY TELLER COUNTY. BY TUE LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON...I-25 CORRIDOR AND SOUTHEAST CO PLAINS STARTS TO GET ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE STORM. H7 WINDS INCREASE TO 45-55KTS ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE CYCLONE. SNOW LEVEL LOOKS TO BE DROPPING TO AROUND 6K-7K FT MSL AROUND THE PALMER DIVIDE. WINTER STORM WARNING CRITERIA WILL PROBABLY BE MET FOR TELLER COUNTY...BUT NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY WILL BE QUITE THE CHALLENGE GIVEN THE THERMAL STRUCTURE. TEMPERATURES COULD REMAIN IN THE 30S ALL DAY WITH RAIN CHANGING TO...OR MIXING WITH...SNOW ALONG WITH NORTH WINDS 20 TO 35 MPH AND NEAR WHITEOUT CONDITIONS. TOUGH CALL...BUT SINCE IT POTENTIAL COULD START SNOWING AROUND 7K FT MSL TUE MORNING RUSH HOUR ON THE PALMER DIVIDE...I WILL GO AHEAD WITH A WINTER STORM WARNING. IF EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER THERE COULD BE A MARGINAL BLIZZARD EVENT SOMEWHERE ON THE PALMER DIVIDE 7-7.5K FT MSL...BUT HARD TO SAY WHERE. THUS...WILL STICK WITH A WINTER STORM WARNING. FOR OUR SOUTHEAST CO MOUNTAINS...ANOTHER TOUGH CALL AS THE MIDLEVEL WINDS BARELY SHIFT TO THE NORTHEAST AND THE TROWAL REMAINS JUST TO THE NORTH. HOWEVER...THERE STILL COULD BE SOME SNOWFALL IN OUR SOUTHEAST CO HIGHER ELEVATIONS. GENERALLY...BELOW 6K FT MSL ALL RAIN. ALL IN ALL...IT JUST LOOKS LIKE A NASTY DAY ACROSS MUCH OF CO. METZE && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 5 AM TUESDAY TO 12 PM MDT WEDNESDAY FOR COZ081-082-084. SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM MDT TUESDAY FOR COZ058-060-066-068. && 17/17
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 1026 PM MDT MON APR 23 2007 COZ058>089-093>099-241300- WESTERN MOSQUITO RANGE/EAST LAKE COUNTY ABOVE 11000 FT- LEADVILLE VICINITY/LAKE COUNTY BELOW 11000 FT- EASTERN SAWATCH MOUNTAINS ABOVE 11000 FT- WESTERN CHAFFEE COUNTY BETWEEN 9000 AND 11000 FT- CENTRAL CHAFFEE COUNTY BELOW 9000 FT- WESTERN MOSQUITO RANGE/EAST CHAFFEE COUNTY ABOVE 9000 FT- SAGUACHE COUNTY WEST OF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE BELOW 10000 FT- SAGUACHE COUNTY EAST OF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE BELOW 10000 FT- LA GARITA MOUNTAINS ABOVE 10000 FT- UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY/EASTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS BELOW 10000 FT- EASTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS ABOVE 10000 FT- DEL NORTE VICINITY/NORTHERN SAN LUIS VALLEY BELOW 8500 FT- ALAMOSA VICINITY/CENTRAL SAN LUIS VALLEY BELOW 8500 FT- SOUTHERN SAN LUIS VALLEY- NORTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 8500 AND 11000 FT- NORTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS ABOVE 11000 FEET- SOUTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 7500 AND 11000 FT- SOUTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS ABOVE 11000 FT- NORTHWESTERN FREMONT COUNTY ABOVE 8500 FT- WESTERN/CENTRAL FREMONT COUNTY BELOW 8500 FT- WET MOUNTAIN VALLEY BELOW 8500 FEET- WET MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 6300 AND 10000 FT- WET MOUNTAINS ABOVE 10000 FT- TELLER COUNTY/RAMPART RANGE ABOVE 7500 FT/PIKES PEAK BETWEEN 7500 AND 11000 FT-PIKES PEAK ABOVE 11000 FT- CANON CITY VICINITY/EASTERN FREMONT COUNTY- NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY/MONUMENT RIDGE/RAMPART RANGE BELOW 7500 FT- COLORADO SPRINGS VICINITY/SOUTHERN EL PASO COUNTY/RAMPART RANGE BELOW 7400 FT-PUEBLO AND VICINITY/PUEBLO COUNTY BELOW 6300 FT- WALSENBURG VICINITY/UPPER HUERFANO RIVER BASIN BELOW 7500 FT- TRINIDAD VICINITY/WESTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY BELOW 7500 FT- CROWLEY COUNTY-LA JUNTA VICINITY/OTERO COUNTY- EASTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY-WESTERN KIOWA COUNTY- EASTERN KIOWA COUNTY-LAS ANIMAS VICINITY/BENT COUNTY- LAMAR VICINITY/PROWERS COUNTY-SPRINGFIELD VICINITY/BACA COUNTY- 1026 PM MDT MON APR 23 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...EAST CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SCATTERED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL BECOME MORE LIKELY OVER THE MOUNTAINS LATE TONIGHT. SNOW LEVEL IS FORECAST TO DROP TO AROUND 8000 FEET. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 3 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED MAINLY ABOVE 10000 FEET. AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO TONIGHT...WITH THE MAIN THREAT BEING CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY HEAVY WET SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY AND TELLER COUNTY DURING THE DAY TOMORROW. WINDS OF 20 TO 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE BY AFTERNOON ALONG WITH HEAVY WET SNOW. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 21 INCHES ARE FORECAST FOR TELLER COUNTY...AND 9 TO 14 INCHES FOR NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. NORTH WINDS 20 TO 40 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS...WILL BE LIKELY AND CREATE POOR VISIBILITIES AND NEAR WHITEOUT CONDITIONS ACROSS PORTIONS OF TELLER AND NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTIES. OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE PLAINS TOMORROW...IT WILL BECOME VERY WINDY WITH NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 40 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS POSSIBLE. PERIODS OF RAIN WILL OCCUR ALONG WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE FAR EASTERN PLAINS. SNOW WILL FALL OVER THE MOUNTAINS TOMORROW...WITH ACCUMULATIONS GENERALLY IN THE 1 TO 8 INCH RANGE. MOST OF THE SNOW IN THE INTERIOR MOUNTAINS WILL FALL ABOVE 8000 FEET. NORTH FACING SLOPES SHOULD SEE THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER CONDITIONS THAT MEET REPORTING CRITERIA FOR SPOTTERS WILL BE LIKELY LATE TONIGHT IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS...TELLER COUNTY...AND NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY. METZE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
15 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2007
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: 27091, 27092, 27090, 27093, 27094, 27095, 27096, 27097, 27098, 27099, 27100, 27101, 27103, 27102, 27104.