A storm system brought heavy snow to areas along the Front Range. The most snow fell in and near the foothills of Boulder, Jefferson and southern Larimer Counties.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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 storm system brought heavy snow to areas along the Front Range. The most snow fell in and near the foothills of Boulder, Jefferson and southern Larimer Counties. Storm totals ranged from 6 to 17 inches.
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 4, 4:00 PM MST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 400 PM MST THU JAN 4 2007 .SHORT TERM...HERE WE GO AGAIN...BUT MOST LIKELY THIS STORM WON/T PERSIST AS LONG NOR DUMP AS MUCH SNOW AS THE LAST TWO BIG STORMS. MAIN PLAYER THIS TIME WILL BE THE POWERFUL POLAR JET KNIFING ACROSS NRN UT AND WY AT THIS HOUR. SATELLITE INTERPRETED WINDS INDICATE A 195KT WIND MAXIMA APRCHG NWRN CORNER OF UT IN THE CORE OF THE JET. MODELS SHOW THIS JET SAGGING SLOWLY S-SEWRD ACROSS COLORADO OVERNIGHT. CROSS SECTIONS REVEAL A NARROW BUT LONG AXIS OF CONDITIONAL SYMMETRICAL INSTABILITY ON NRN FRINGE OF JET. THIS AREA PROGGED TO MOVE OVER NRN CO MTNS THIS EVENING AND EVENTUALLY OVER THE N-CENTRAL MTNS AND SRN I-25 URBAN CORRIDOR/GREATER DENVER METRO AREA FRIDAY MORNING. CSI POTENTIALLY COULD PRODUCE BURSTS OF HVY SNOW AS MUCH AS 2-3 INCHES PER HOUR. WILL HAVE TO WATCH THIS CLOSELY ON RADAR. ADDING TO THE MODERATELY STRONG QG OMEGA PRODUCED BY THE JET...SHOULD SEE RELATIVELY DEEP NELY UPSLOPE FLOW DEVELOPING LATE TONIGHT ALONG AND EAST OF THE FRONT RANGE FOLLOWING THE PASSAGE OF A STRONG COLD FRONT THIS EVENING. CROSS SECTIONS INDICATE 20-25KT UPSLOPE FLOW UP TO AROUND 650 MBS AROUND 15Z/FRI. HAVE ISSUED A PLETHORA OF SNOW ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS FOR THE CWFA FOR TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. REFER TO LATEST WSW STATEMENT FOR ALL THE DETAILS. BOTTOMLINE...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE MTNS AND SRN FRONT RANGE FTHLS AND SNOW/BLOWING ADVSY FOR EVERYWHERE ELSE EXCEPT FAR NERN CORNER OF THE STATE. HWVR LATER SHIFT MAY ADD THEM TO THE ADVSY SHOULD SNOWFALL BECOME HEAVIER THAN EXPECTED. BY LATE FRIDAY SHOULD SEE SNOWFALL WINDING DOWN FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AS THE JET CONTINUES TO MIGRATE SWRD. LASTLY SHOULD SEE A BIG DROP IN TEMPERATURES WITH DAYTIME READINGS ON THE PLAINS STRUGGLING TO REACH THE 30 DEG MARK. .LONG TERM...CLEARING SKIES FRIDAY EVENING AND FRESH SNOW COVER WILL ALLOW FOR ANOTHER COLD NIGHT ACROSS NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO WITH TEMPERATURES DROPPING BELOW ZERO IN MOST VALLEY LOCATIONS. HOWEVER...THIS COLD SNAP WILL START TO ABATE SATURDAY AS WARM ADVECTION ALOFT AND DOWNSLOPE FLOW BEGIN TO KICK IN. STRONG NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL QUICKLY DEVELOP LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL BRING PERIODS OF STRONG GUSTY WINDS TO THE FRONT RANGE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS...OCCASIONALLY SPILLING OUT ONTO THE PLAINS. MOUNTAIN TOP STABILITY IS PRETTY STRONG SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING WHICH COULD SUPPORT A WELL DEVELOPED MOUNTAIN WAVE AND POTENTIAL WIND EVENT. HOWEVER...ANOTHER APPROACHING SHORT WAVE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING SHOULD EFFECTIVELY LIFT THE STABLE LAYER WITH DESTABILIZING AIRMASS AND ANOTHER SHOT OF MOUNTAIN SNOWFALL. MOST SNOW AMOUNTS SHOULD REMAIN ON THE LIGHT SIDE SINCE MOISTURE WILL BE LIMITED...BUT AT THE SAME TIME CANT RULE OUT A FEW SHOWERS/FLURRIES MOVING DOWN THE FOOTHILLS GIVEN STRENGTH OF FLOW ALOFT. STRONGER WARM ADVECTION SHOULD TAKE HOLD MONDAY AND TUESDAY AS FLOW ALOFT BECOME MORE WEST/SOUTHWESTERLY AHEAD OF NEXT TROUGH DIGGING INTO THE WEST COAST. THE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS HAVE BEEN QUITE CONSISTENT WITH A CHUNK OF ARCTIC AIR SNEAKING DOWN THE EAST SIDE OF THE ROCKIES LATE WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY. AS A RESULT...EXPECT COLDER TEMPERATURES AND AT LEAST A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOWFALL BY NEXT THURSDAY. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER STORM WARNING NORTHERN MOUNTAINS TONIGHT THROUGH NOON FRIDAY...ZONES 31 AND 33. WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT AND FRIDAY I-70 CORRIDOR MOUNTAINS INCLUDING SUMMIT COUNTY...ZONE 34. WINTER STORM WARNING SOUTHERN FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...ZONE 36. SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY NORTHERN FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS TONIGHT THROUGH NOON FRIDAY...ZONE 35. SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY FRONT RANGE URBAN CORRIDOR AND PALMER DIVIDE AREA MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON... ZONE 38>41..45..AND 46. && BAKER/BARJENBRUCH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1126 AM MST THU JAN 04 2007 COZ030>051-051300- 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- 1126 AM MST THU JAN 04 2007 ...SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE NORTHERN COLORADO MOUNTAINS TONIGHT AND FRIDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT GUSTY WEST WINDS OF 30 TO 50 MPH WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW ON THE HIGH MOUNTAIN PASSES AND ABOVE TIMBERLINE FOR THE REST OF TODAY. BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON MOUNTAIN AREAS WILL ALSO SEE SNOW SHOWERS MOVING IN FROM THE WEST AS A FAST AND POTENT STORM SYSTEM RACES IN FROM NORTHERN UTAH. BY TONIGHT...SNOW WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD IN THE MOUNTAINS AND GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL ALSO PRODUCE QUITE A BIT OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. ON THE PLAINS...A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL DROP SOUTH LATE IN THE EVENING USHERING IN SIGNIFICANTLY COLDER AIR AND UPSLOPE SNOWFALL AFTER MIDNIGHT. OVERNIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS IN THE MOUNTAINS WILL GENERALLY RANGE FROM 3 TO 7 INCHES...WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES ON THE PLAINS. THE HIGHER AMOUNTS ON THE PLAINS ARE EXPECTED IN AREAS UP AGAINST THE FOOTHILLS AND OVER THE PALMER DIVIDE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON...AND THEN GRADUALLY DIMINISH FROM NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE REMAINDER OF FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES FRIDAY MORNING ESPECIALLY IN AND NEAR THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE AREA. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 8 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED ON THE PLAINS WHILE MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS SHOULD SEE TOTALS RANGING BETWEEN 6 AND 12 INCHES. NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 35 MPH EAST OF INTERSTATE 25 WILL PRODUCE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AS WELL. PEOPLE PLANNING TRAVEL ACROSS NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS TONIGHT AND FRIDAY...AND SHOULD CONSIDER DELAYING TRAVEL UNTIL CONDITIONS IMPROVE FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. VISIBILITIES WILL BE LIMITED BY FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW. OVER THE WEEKEND...THE FOCUS WILL SHIFT BACK TO WIND AS STRONG NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT DEVELOPS ACROSS THE ROCKIES. OCCASIONAL WIND GUSTS UP TO 70 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED ABOVE TIMBERLINE AND THE EASTERN SLOPE OF THE FRONT RANGE. THE STRONG NORTHWEST FLOW WILL ALSO BRING A RETURN OF SNOW TO THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS BUT THE PLAINS SHOULD REMAIN DRY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. BAKER/BARJENBRUCH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm totals included: 12 inches at Bear Lake State Park, Eldora and 4 miles southeast of Gould; 11 inches at Breckenridge, and 9.5 inches at Winter Park.
Storm totals included: 17 inches, 8 miles northwest of Evergreen, 16 inches, 5 miles west-northwest of Conifer, 15 inches, 7 miles southwest of Boulder and at Eldorado Springs, 14.5 inches near Genesee, 12 inches, 4 miles north-northwest of Aspen Park and 4 miles west-southwest of Estes Park. 11 inches at Perry Park with 9.5 inches, 3 miles north of Blackhawk.
The heaviest snow fell near the foothills of southeast Larimer, Boulder and Jefferson Counties. Storm totals included: 11.5 inches in Boulder, 9 inches in Louisville; 7.5 inches in Arvada, 7 inches, 2 miles north-northwest of Erie; 6.5 inches, 2 miles north of Longmont; with 6 inches at Hygiene, Ralston Reservoir, Littleton, Loveland; 4 miles east of Masonville.
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: 4254, 4255, 4256, 4257, 4258, 4260.