A broad upper level trough was situated over the northern portion of the United States. Meanwhile, a strong shortwave trough embedded in northwest flow combined with a surge of moisture from the south to produce widespread moderate to heavy snowfall across the area.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 broad upper level trough was situated over the northern portion of the United States. Meanwhile, a strong shortwave trough embedded in northwest flow combined with a surge of moisture from the south to produce widespread moderate to heavy snowfall across the area.
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 Jan 30, 4:05 AM MST, 7 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 405 AM MST TUE JAN 30 2007 .SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT)... NRN STREAM SHORTWAVE DROPPING S ACROSS OR/ID AT 10Z EARLY THIS MORNING AS A CLOSED UPPER LOW CONTINUES SPINNING ALONG THE CA COAST. BAND OF MID/HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS STRETCHED FROM NRN NV ACROSS NRN CO IN AREA OF UPPER DIVERGENCE. ALSO...REMNANTS OF WEAK COLD FRONT EXPECTED TO BACKDOOR INTO NW CO TODAY BEFORE SHIFTING NWD IN DEVELOPING SW FLOW. FRONTOGENETIC AND Q FORCING LOOK WEAK WITH A FAIRLY STABLE AIRMASS ALSO TEMPERING LIFT AND STILL DRY AIR AT THE SURFACE...SO DO NOT EXPECT MUCH PRECIP ACROSS THE N TODAY WITH ANY AMTS QUITE LIGHT. THE OR/ID SHORTWAVE EXPECTED TO WEAKEN TODAY AS IT ENCOUNTERS SPLITTING FLOW OVER THE NRN GREAT BASIN. MOST OF THE ENERGY EXPECTED TO GET ABSORBED IN THE CA COASTAL LOW...AND HELP MOVE IT INLAND ACROSS SRN AZ WED/WED NIGHT...WHERE IT IS EXPECTED TO PHASE WITH A SECOND COLDER AND STRONGER NRN STREAM SHORTWAVE DROPPING ACROSS UT/CO. MOISTENING SW FLOW INTO THE 4-CORNERS EXPECTED TODAY AHEAD OF THE CA LOW. BELIEVE THE GFS A LITTLE FAST IN BRINGING IN PRECIP TODAY... HOWEVER...AND KEPT PRECIP IN THE CHANCE CATEGORY FOR THE SAN JUANS. SW OROGRAPHICS WILL AID IN THE PRODUCTION OF SNOW FOR THE SAN JUANS TONIGHT...WHILE THE APPROACH OF THE SECOND NRN STREAM SHORTWAVE AND WESTERLY OROGRAPHIC FLOW KEEP A CHANCE OF SNOW FOR THE NRN AREAS. WED LOOKING LIKE THE BEST DAY FOR WIDESPREAD PRECIP...AND RAISED POPS SUBSTANTIALLY IN MOST AREAS. A COLD FRONT ENTERS NW CO DURING THE MORNING...WITH THE 700 MB BAROCLINIC ZONE THEN REMAINING OVER OUR AREA ALL DAY. STRONGER FRONTOGENETIC AND Q-FORCING WILL HAVE A MOISTER AND MORE POTENTIALLY UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT. FOCUS OF BEST SNOWFALL SHOULD BE THE CENTRAL AND SRN MTNS WED. LATER SHIFTS WILL HAVE TO LOOK AT THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ADVISORY LATE TUE NIGHT AND WED FOR THE SAN JUANS MTNS AT LEAST. COLD ADVECTION WED SHOULD HELP MIX VALLEYS OF STAGNANT AIR AND IMPROVE AIR QUALITY TO SOME EXTENT AT LEAST. .LONG TERM (THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... HIGH AMPLITUDE PATTERN WITH SHORT WAVE ENERGY DIVING SOUTH FROM CANADA WILL DOMINATE THROUGH THE WEEKEND. WRN COLORADO WILL BE IN BETWEEN SYSTEMS ON THURSDAY MORNING BUT THE NEXT COLD SHORT WAVE ARRIVES THURSDAY AFTERNOON/NIGHT BEFORE DEPARTING ON FRIDAY MORNING. THE 00Z NAM MODEL APPEARS TO BE AN OUTLIER WHICH SHOWS STRONG COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE FOR WRN COLORADO ON THURSDAY NIGHT. THE GFS BRINGS THE FRONT INTO NW COLORADO LATE THURSDAY NIGHT BUT DOES NOT MOVE IT MUCH FARTHER SOUTH. THE ECMWF SUPPORTS THE GFS IDEA SO GRIDDED FORECASTS WILL BE BASED ON THE GFS FORECASTS AND BRING THE BEST THEAT OF SNOW TO NORTHWEST COLORADO AND THE HIGH COUNTRY OF WRN COLORADO. VERY DRY AIR FOLLOWS THE DEPARTING SHORT WAVE...BUT OROGRAPHIC LIFT IN CYCLONIC NORTHWEST FLOW SHOULD BE ABLE TO SQUEEZE ANY AVAILABLE MOISTURE. ANY CLOUD COVER WILL BE SHALLOW AND WILL HUG THE MOUNTAIN CRESTS FOR SCATTERED FLURRIES NEAR THE NRN DIVIDE AND VAIL PASS ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. ON MONDAY...NORTHWEST FLOW CONTINUES BUT ITS ORIGIN WILL BE FROM THE ERN PACIFIC AS THE COLDER AIR MASS SHIFTS EAST. THE GFS WANTS TO INCREASE THE AREAL COVERAGE OF PCPN ON MONDAY ACROSS NW COLORADO. NOT WILLING TO ACCEPT THIS IDEA AS WARMING TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL RESULT IN A STABLE AIR MASS...THEREFORE ANY SNOW SHOULD BE CONFINED TO THE WEST FACING MOUNTAIN SLOPES. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .CO...NONE. .UT...NONE. JAD/PF
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 600 AM MST TUE JAN 30 2007 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-311300- 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- 600 AM MST TUE JAN 30 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT LIGHT SNOW IS POSSIBLE IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING AND THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON...BUT SHOULD HAVE MINIMAL ON TRAVEL TODAY. SNOW IS LIKELY IN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS TONIGHT...WITH SNOW POSSIBLE IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF THE 4-CORNERS AS WELL AS THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY WIDESPREAD SNOW IS EXPECTED ACROSS WESTERN COLORADO WEDNESDAY AS A COLD FRONT PUSHES SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA...WITH SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW POSSIBLE IN THE MOUNTAINS. TRAVEL ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS ON HIGHWAY 40...INTERSTATE 70...HIGHWAY 50...AND HIGHWAY 550 WILL BE AFFECTED. EASTERN UTAH WILL HAVE A CHANCE OF SNOW WEDNESDAY. ANOTHER CHANCE OF SNOW WILL BE THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY... ESPECIALLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND NORTHWEST COLORADO. SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY...COLD MORNINGS WILL RETURN WITH TEMPERATURES AROUND ZERO OR COLDER. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY AND TONIGHT. JAD/PF
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 winter weather, 2 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
One to two feet of snow fell across the Elkhead and Park Mountains. Wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph caused blowing and drifting of snow.
Snowfall of 8 to 12 inches occurred across the Flat Top Mountains. Wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph caused blowing and drifting of snow.
Snowfall of 5 to 12 inches occurred across the West Elk and Sawatch Mountains. Locally higher amounts up to 18 inches fell at Monarch Pass and Schofield Pass. Wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph caused blowing and drifting of snow. An isolated wind gust of 51 mph occurred at Salida Mountain.|
Snowfall of 5 to 12 inches accumulated across the Uncompahgre Plateau.| |
Snowfall of 5 to 12 inches occurred across the Southwest San Juan Mountains. |
Snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 inches occurred across the Northwest San Juan Mountains. Wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph caused blowing and drifting of snow.
Snowfall of 6 to 12 inches occurred across the Gore and Elk Mountains and surrounding high valleys, including the towns of Aspen and Vail. |
Snowfall of 6 to 7 inches occurred across the higher elevations of the San Juan River Basin, including Pagosa Springs. Lesser amounts near 3 inches occurred near Arboles.
Six to ten inches of new snow accumulated across Grand and Battlement Mesas.
Snowfall of 4 to 7 inches blanketed areas from Dove Creek and Cortez to Mancos.
Snowfall of 3 to 6 inches blanketed the Interstate 70 corridor from Glenwood Springs to Avon, and the Roaring Fork River Valley including the towns of Carbondale and Basalt.|
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, January 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: 9960, 9962, 9965, 9966, 9967, 9961, 9964, 9959, 9963, 9968, 9969.