A storm system brought moderate to heavy snowfall to areas in and near the Front Range Foothills, Urban Corridor and Palmer Divide. 5 inches, 3 miles southwest of Golden; 8 inches, 12 miles southeast of Aurora; 7 inches at Boulder, 1 mile east of Buckhorn Mountain, Fort Collins and Genessee.
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 moderate to heavy snowfall to areas in and near the Front Range Foothills, Urban Corridor and Palmer Divide. Storm totals included: 10 inches, 4 miles south of Boulder; 8.5 inches, 3 miles southwest of Golden; 8 inches, 12 miles southeast of Aurora; 7 inches at Boulder, 1 mile east of Buckhorn Mountain, Fort Collins and Genessee. A localized band of heavy snow also produced nearly 7 inches of snow in and around Greeley.
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 Dec 3, 2:05 PM MST, 12 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 205 PM MST WED DEC 3 2008 .SHORT TERM...A DISTURBANCE MOVING SLOWLY SOUTH FROM WYOMING HAS SET UP A COUPLE OF SNOW BANDS NEAR THE WY/CO BORDER TODAY AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE ANTICIPATED OVERNIGHT. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER WESTERN KANSAS HAS HELPED KEEP UPSLOPE FLOW OVER THE FRONT RANGE AND PLAINS TO KEEP GOOD CLOUD COVER AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. ANOTHER DISTURBANCE WILL BRING A SECOND SURGE OF COLDER AIR INTO NERN CO AFTER MIDNIGHT ENHANCING UPSLOPE FLOW ESPECIALLY TOWARDS 12Z ALONG WITH WEAK QG ASCENT. RIGHT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE THE SNOW ALONG THE CO-WY BORDER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MIDNIGHT AND THEN SPREAD SOUTH TO THE PALMER DIVIDE BY 12Z. ABUNDANT MOISTURE UPSTREAM OF THE MOUNTAINS WILL BRING 3 TO 5 INCHES TONIGHT...WITH HIGHEST AMOUNTS ON WEST FACING HIGHER SLOPES. THURSDAY MORNING WILL HAVE THE GREATEST COLD ADVECTION AND GOOD PVA ALOFT TO SPREAD SNOW ACROSS THE WHOLE CWA...GREATEST AMOUNTS ALONG THE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAIN PEAKS. EXPECT ABOUT 2 TO 3 INCHES ALONG THE FOOTHILLS AND FRONT RANGE WITH ONLY ABOUT 1 TO 2 INCHES ON THE PLAINS. THE MOUNTAINS ARE LIKELY TO SEE ANOTHER 2 TO 4 INCHES TOMORROW. .LONG TERM...SNOW WILL BE DIMINISHING THURSDAY EVENING AS SUBSIDENCE AND DRIER AIR MOVE IN FROM THE NORTH. ANY ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION SHOULD BE AN INCH OR LESS ON THE PLAINS WITH UP TO 2 INCHES IN THE HIGH COUNTRY. SKIES MAY BE A BIT SLOW TO CLEAR OVERNIGHT AS FLOW TURNS SLOWLY TO THE SOUTH...BUT A VERY COLD NIGHT IS STILL IN STORE AS READINGS IN MOST LOCATIONS WILL DROP TO 10F OR LESS IN THE COLDEST NIGHT OF THE WINTER SO FAR. FRIDAYS WARMUP WILL BE HAMPERED BY SNOW COVER SO HAVE LOWERED THEM SEVERAL DEGREES AS WE WILL STRUGGLE TO REACH 40F WITH LACK OF DOWNSLOPE FLOW. WILL ALSO DELAY THE WEEKEND WARMUP JUST A BIT WITH SLIGHTLY COOLER READINGS LINGERING SATURDAY BEFORE STRONGER DOWNSLOPE WARMING KICKS IN BY SUNDAY. THE LATEST ECMWF HAS TRENDED AWAY FROM THE PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED TROUGH MONDAY...BUT THE GFS AND ITS ENSEMBLES STILL HAVE A WEAK TROUGH AND COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE AREA MONDAY SO KEPT THE CHANCE OF SNOW IN THAT PERIOD. OTHERWISE EARLY NEXT WEEK LOOKS DRY ON THE PLAINS BUT A CONTINUED CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. .AVIATION...MFVR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF -SHSN THRU THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. A FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTH ACROSS THE STATE LATE TONIGHT AFTER 09Z WITH SNOW CHANCES INCREASING TOWARDS 12Z. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. KRIEDERMAN/BARJENBRUCH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1059 AM MST WED DEC 03 2008 COZ030>051-041300- 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- 1059 AM MST WED DEC 03 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NORTHERN COLORADO WILL CONTINUE TO SEE BANDS OF SNOW OVER LARIMER...WELD...MORGAN AND LOGAN COUNTIES THROUGH TONIGHT AS A DISTURBANCE MOVES SOUTH FROM WYOMING. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD INTO THE AREA THROUGH TONIGHT BRINGING MUCH COLDER TEMPERATURES ALONG WITH A CHANCE OF SOME LIGHT SNOW TO THE FOOTHILLS AND PLAINS TODAY. ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LESS THAN AN INCH. IN THE MOUNTAINS THERE WILL BE PERIODS OF LIGHT SNOW THROUGH TONIGHT WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE. ANOTHER SURGE OF COLDER AIR WILL MOVE INTO NORTHEAST COLORADO LATE TONIGHT AND BRING AN INCREASING CHANCE OF SNOW TOWARDS SUNRISE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY SNOW WILL FALL ACROSS ALL OF NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO ON THURSDAY. MOST LOCATIONS WILL SEE ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES...WITH A FEW SPOTS POSSIBLY SEEING AS MUCH AS 4 OR 5 INCHES BEFORE TAPERING OFF THURSDAY EVENING. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN WELL BELOW FREEZING SO ROADS WILL BE SNOW PACKED AND ICY WITH HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. DRIER AND WARMER WEATHER IS THEN EXPECTED FROM FRIDAY INTO SUNDAY BEFORE THE NEXT POTENTIAL SNOW MAKER MOVES INTO THE AREA LATE SUNDAY AND MONDAY. SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. KRIEDERMAN/BARJENBRUCH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, December 2008
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: 142009, 142010, 142011, 142012, 142013, 142015.