A second avalanche struck a skier on Berthoud Pass. The person was caught and carried for some distance, but was not injured.
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The episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
A second avalanche struck a skier on Berthoud Pass. The person was caught and carried for some distance, but was not injured.
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 6, 3:20 AM MST, 10 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 320 AM MST SAT DEC 6 2008 .SHORT TERM...WARMUP WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA TODAY AS MILD AND DRY WESTERLY BREEZES--A PRODUCT OF FALLING PRESSURES ON THE PLAINS AND MODERATE NWLY FLOW ALOFT--PREVAIL. GUSTY DOWNSLOPE/ DOWNVALLEY WINDS IN AND NEAR THE BASE OF THE FRONT RANGE IN THE PAST FEW HOURS SHOULD GRADUALLY WEAKEN THIS MORNING...ONLY TO REGAIN STRENGTH AGAIN THIS EVENING...MAINLY UP NEAR THE WYOMING BORDER. COULD SEE GUSTS APPROACHING 50 MPH IN THIS AREA AFTER MIDNIGHT. OTHERWISE CLEAR TO MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES EARLY THIS MORNING SHOULD GRADUALLY FILL WITH CIRRUS/CIRROSTRATUS BY LATE THIS MORNING OR EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AS A BATCH OF HIGH-LEVEL MOISTURE PRESENTLY UPWIND OVER NORTHWEST WYOMING STREAKS SEWRD OVER THE AREA. AND AS A LOW AMPLITUDE MTN WAVE FORMS IN THE LEE OF THE FRONT RANGE...MAY ALSO SEE A FEW STANDING LENTICULAR CLOUDS FORMING OVER PORTIONS OF THE I-25 CORRIDOR LATER TODAY. EVEN WITH THE INTERMITTENT CLOUDINESS...DAYTIME TEMPERATURES ON THE PLAINS SHOULD STILL MANAGE TO CLIMB 6-10F ABOVE THOSE OBSERVED YESTERDAY. ALTHOUGH COLD AIR TRAPPED IN LOW LYING AREAS COVERED WITH SNOW ALONG THE SOUTH PLATTE RIVER...NOTABLY IN THE GREELEY TO FORT MORGAN AREA...MAY NOT SEE THE MERCURY CLIMBING OUT OF THE 30S. PRETTY MUCH SAME GOES FOR MANY OF THE HIGH MTN VALLEYS WHERE STRONG SFC BASED INVERSIONS WILL NOT ALLOW THE SNOW CHILLED BNDRY LAYER AIR TO MIX WITH WARMER AIR ALOFT. .LONG TERM....SUNDAY WILL BE A TRANQUIL DAY WITH A GENERALLY DRY AND MODERATE NORTHWEST FLOW PATTERN ACROSS CO. APPEARS THERE IS A WEAK FRONT SUNDAY AFTN WHICH WILL SHIFT THE WINDS AROUND NORTHEASTERLY AND A BIT OF COOLING ACROSS NORTHEAST COLORADO. OTHERWISE...NO PRECIP EXPECTED ON SUNDAY. ANOTHER CHANGE IN THE WEATHER IS EXPECTED ON MONDAY THRU MONDAY NIGHT. FORECAST MODELS ARE IN BASIC AGREEMENT...HOWEVER THERE ARE DIFFERENCES IN TIMING AND AMPLITUDE BETWEEN THE PLAYERS. THE GFS IS THE SLOWEST AND DEEPEST WHERE THE NAM IS MORE PROGRESSIVE AND QUICKER MOVING THINGS OUT ON TUESDAY. DP/DT OF THE GFS HAS SHOWN A TENDENCY IN A SLOWING TREND WITH MORE AMPLITUDE UPSTREAM. EUROPEAN HAS ALSO SHOWN A SLOWING TENDENCY BUT NOT AS PRONOUNCED. CURIOUS IS THE GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS ARE MORE PROGRESSIVE AND THE OPERATIONAL RUN APPEARS MORE OF AN OUTLIER. WILL MAKE SOME MINOR TIMING ADJUSTMENTS TO POP/WX GRIDS FOR MONDAY AND INTO TUESDAY...BUT WILL LEAVE THE POPS IN THE HIGH CHC CATEGORY FOR NOW AND WAIT FOR A BIT MORE CONTINUITY IN MODEL RUNS. SREF HAS HIGHEST POPS DURING THE MON NITE PERIOD AND THIS LOOKS REASONABLE. SUSPECT WE MAY NEED TO SHIFT SOME OF THE POPS INTO TUE MORNING IF THE SLOWING TREND CONTINUES. DRYING TREND STILL EXPECTED FOR LATE TUESDAY AND INTO WEDNESDAY UNDER A MODEST NORTHWEST FLOW REGIME AND THIS MAY HOLD THRU FRIDAY. THE GFS SHOWS MORE MOISTURE MOVING INTO THE REGION LATE WED/THU WHILE EUROPEAN HAS LESS MOISTURE. WILL LEAVE THE OUT PERIODS ALONE AS GRIDS ALREADY HAVE SLIGHT CHC POPS OVER MTNS/FAR ERN CO ON WED NITE/THU. .AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED THE NEXT 24 HOURS. LEE TROUGHING ON THE PLAINS AND NWLY FLOW ALOFT WILL PRODUCE DRY AND MILD WESTERLY SFC BREEZES ON THE PLAINS. THEN LOOK FOR LIGHT DRAINAGE WINDS TO DEVELOP TONIGHT. SHOULD SEE PERIODS OF HIGH-LEVEL CLOUDINESS THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH POSSIBLY SOME MTN WAVE CLOUDS FORMING OVER AND ALONG THE FRONT RANGE LATER TODAY. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. BAKER/ENTREKIN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1046 AM MST SAT DEC 06 2008 COZ030>051-071300- 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- 1046 AM MST SAT DEC 06 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AFTER WEAKENING THIS AFTERNOON...GUSTY WEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS OVERNIGHT. PEAK GUSTS NEAR 50 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE INDIAN PEAKS AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK AREA. OTHER THAN JUST A FEW FLURRIES OVER THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN PEAKS TODAY...DRY AND MILD CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE NEXT WEATHER DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS COLORADO ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY. SNOW WILL BECOME LIKELY IN THE MOUNTAINS BY MONDAY AFTERNOON AND THERE WILL BE A GOOD CHANCE OF SNOW ACROSS THE EASTERN PLAINS MONDAY NIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA ALONG WITH SOME BLOWING SNOW. TEMPERATURES WILL BE COLDER AGAIN ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH READINGS IN THE 30S AND LOWER 40S ACROSS THE PLAINS. DRY AND WARMER CONDITIONS WILL RETURN FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. BARJENBRUCH/DANKERS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche. 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: 139602.