A fast moving storm system brought significant snowfall and strong gusty winds to the mountains and some northern valleys of western Colorado.
Every event with a place to put it; 8 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 GJT wrote it up.
A fast moving storm system brought significant snowfall and strong gusty winds to the mountains and some northern valleys of western Colorado.
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 18, 3:00 PM MST, 9 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 300 PM MST SUN FEB 18 2007 .SHORT-TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY)... RIDGE AXIS HAS SHIFTED EAST OF WRN COLORADO...AND THIS HAS ALLOWED HIGH CLOUDS TO INCREASE FROM THE SOUTHWEST AS THE NEXT TROUGH APPROACHES. THIS TROUGH IS IN THE PROCESS OF SPLITTING WITH THE SRN PORTION PROGGED TO BECOME A CLOSED CIRCULATION NEAR SAN DIEGO BY MONDAY AFTERNOON. BUT THE NRN SHORT WAVE WILL DRAG ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA MONDAY AFTN AND EVENING AS AN OPEN WAVE...AND PROVIDING SOME FRONTOGENETIC SUPPORT FOR THE SURFACE COLD FRONT. BOOSTED POPS...QPF AND SNOW AMOUNTS AS LOW STATIC STABILITY AND DEEP MOIST LAYER WILL PRODUCE RESPECTABLE SNOW AMOUNTS. WESTERLY MOIST FLOW WILL LEAD TO THE HEAVIEST SNOW OVER THE FLATTOPS...GRAND MESA... MAROON BELLS AND THE WEST ELK MOUNTAINS. EXPECTED SNOW AMOUNTS WILL RANGE FROM 5 TO 10 INCHES...ALTHOUGH ISOLATED AREAS MAY EXCEED 12 INCHES. GIVEN THE FACT THAT THIS TROUGH IS SPLITTING...THERE IS STILL A REASONABLE CHANCE THAT THIS SYSTEM WILL BE WEAKER THAN EXPECTED AND THEREFORE WILL NOT ISSUE ANY WINTER WEATHER HILITES THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. IN ADDITION TO THE MOUNTAIN SNOW...EXPECT WIDESPREAD MIXTURE OF RAIN AND SNOW IN VALLEY LOCATIONS (SNOW LEVEL 6K FEET NORTH AND 7K FEET SOUTH) ON MONDAY AFTERNOON. INCREASING INSTABILITY AROUND THE FOUR CORNERS AREA MAY PRODUCE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS FOR SOUTHEAST UTAH. CONSIDERABLE DRYING OCCURS BEHIND THE SHORT WAVE EXPECT A QUICK END TO THE RAIN AND SNOW NORTH OF I70 MONDAY NIGHT. MODEL DATA SUGGESTS THAT THE SURFACE FRONT WASHES OUT OVER COLORADO AND NEVER REACHES SW COLORADO. UPPER LEVEL FRONT SHEARS EASTWARD LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND THEREFORE PCPN WILL BE ENDING FOR THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA BY TUESDAY MORNING. FOR TUESDAY...LIGHT SHOWERS FROM RESIDUAL MOISTURE IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER MAY LINGER ALONG THE DIVIDE AND HIGH MOUNTAIN PASSES ...OTHERWISE EXPECT PARTIAL CLEARING FROM THE NORTHWEST. .LONG TERM (TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY)... SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL INCREASE WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY AHEAD OF A STORM SYSTEM WHICH WILL MOVE INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. DRY..SEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED ON WEDNESDAY AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM WITH INCREASING CLOUDS WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF POPS OVER THE MOUNTAINS ON THURSDAY. PRECIPITATION WILL INCREASE LATE THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY AS THE TROF BUILDS OVER THE GREAT BASIN REGION. A COMBINATION OF GOOD MOISTURE...ADEQUATE LIFT AND INSTABILITY...AND COLD TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM OVER THE REGION LATE THURSDAY INTO SATURDAY. THE LATEST GFS EVEN SHOWS THE SYSTEM BECOMING A CLOSED LOW OVER ARIZONA BY LATE FRIDAY. BY SATURDAY...THE SYSTEM WILL MOVE EAST OF THE DIVIDE WITH THE CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION DIMINISHING BY LATE SATURDAY. MAINLY DRY...NORTHWEST FLOW WILL DOMINATE THE PATTERN ON SUNDAY. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...NONE. .UT...NONE. PF/MPM
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 545 AM MST SUN FEB 18 2007 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-191300- ANIMAS RIVER BASIN-ARCHES/GRAND FLAT-CANYONLANDS/NATURAL BRIDGES- CENTRAL COLORADO RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL GUNNISON AND UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL YAMPA RIVER BASIN-DEBEQUE TO SILT CORRIDOR- EASTERN UINTA BASIN-EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS-FLAT TOPS- FOUR CORNERS/UPPER DOLORES RIVER- GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS- GRAND VALLEY-LA SAL AND ABAJO MOUNTAINS-LOWER YAMPA RIVER BASIN- NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-PARADOX VALLEY/LOWER DOLORES RIVER- ROAN AND TAVAPUTS PLATEAUS-SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN-SOUTHEAST UTAH- SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-TAVAPUTS PLATEAU- UNCOMPAHGRE PLATEAU AND DALLAS DIVIDE-UPPER GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY- UPPER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS- 545 AM MST SUN FEB 18 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE CHANCE FOR MOUNTAIN SNOW WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING AND INCREASE LATE TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SNOW WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD ON MONDAY...WITH RAIN OR MIXED RAIN AND SNOW IN THE LOWER VALLEY AREAS. BY MONDAY NIGHT THE SNOW LEVEL WILL DESCEND INTO THE LOWEST VALLEYS. SNOW WILL DIMINISH FROM THE NORTHWEST LATE MONDAY NIGHT...WITH THE CHANCE OF SNOW LIMITED TO THE HIGHER COLORADO MOUNTAINS ON TUESDAY. THE CHANCE FOR MOUNTAIN SNOW WILL AGAIN DEVELOP THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. TGJT
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 winter weather, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Seven to thirteen inches of snowfall occurred along with wind gusts of 20 to 40 mph that caused blowing and drifting snow.
Five to ten inches of snowfall blanketed the area with locally higher amounts up to 16 inches. Frequent wind gusts of 20 to 40 mph caused blowing and drifting snow.
Ten to twenty inches of snowfall were measured while wind gusts of 25 to 40 mph caused blowing and drifting snow. A peak gust of 56 mph was measured at Salida Mountain.
Five to ten inches of snowfall occurred along with frequent wind gusts of 20 to 40 mph that caused blowing and drifting snow. A wind gust of 51 mph was recorded at the top of Telluride Ski Area.
Six to twelve inches of snow blanketed the area, along with local higher amounts up to 17 inches. Wind gusts of 20 to 35 mph caused blowing and drifting snow.
Five to ten inches of snowfall occurred along with wind gusts of 20 to 35 mph that caused blowing and drifting snow.
Seven to thirteen inches of snowfall occurred along with wind gusts of 20 to 40 mph that caused blowing and drifting snow.
Three to five inches of snow blanketed much of the Central Yampa River Basin. Wind gusts of 20 to 40 mph caused blowing and drifting snow.
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, February 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: 15549, 15553, 15554, 15552, 15546, 15550, 15548, 15547.