A mountaineer was injured when he tumbled 50 feet down Ptarmigan Glacier, in Rocky Mountain National Park, after being hit by a strong gust of wind. He was found at 11,000 feet by two backcountry skiers the following morning.
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The episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
A mountaineer was injured when he tumbled 50 feet down Ptarmigan Glacier, in Rocky Mountain National Park, after being hit by a strong gust of wind. He was found at 11,000 feet by two backcountry skiers the following morning. The 57-yr old man was badly injured after suffering multiple injuries.
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 May 11, 3:05 AM MST, 7 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 405 AM MDT MON MAY 11 2009 .SHORT TERM...STRATUS FINALLY ERODING AS COMBINATION OF WESTERLY WINDS ALOFT AND SOUTHERLY WINDS AT THE SURFACE BRING DRYING. WARM ADVECTION ALOFT WILL BE THE MAIN STORY TODAY. SOUTHERLIES AT THE SURFACE WILL MAINTAIN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...BUT WARMING WILL LIKELY CAP CONVECTION. POSSIBLE EXCEPTION ALONG THE FRONT RANGE WHERE SOME LOW CAPE CONVECTION MAY DEVELOP AT THE END OF THE DAY. PRIME SPOT MAY TURN OUT TO BE A DENVER CYCLONE BOUNDARY. ALSO WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT IS DECENT SO ANYTHING THAT FORMS OVER THE FOOTHILLS MAY DRIFT OVER THE CITIES. PREVIOUS FORECAST LOOKS PRETTY GOOD...A BIT WARMER THAN MOS GUIDANCE. SOME HIGH CLOUDINESS TONIGHT ALONG WITH SOUTH WINDS WILL KEEP TEMPS UP. KEPT CURRENT FORECAST LOWS WHICH IS ALSO A BIT ABOVE GUIDANCE...EXCEPT DROPPED MOUNTAIN LOWS A LITTLE. .LONG TERM...MODERATE ZONAL FLOW IS PROGGED OVER THE FORECAST AREA TUESDAY AND TUESDAY EVENING. BY EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...THE FLOW ALOFT BECOMES WEST-SOUTHWESTERLY AND INCREASES SOMEWHAT IN ADVANCE OF A WEAK UPPER TROUGH. THE TROUGH MOVES OVER BY LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WITH WEST-NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WEDNESDAY EVENING. THE SYNOPTIC SCALE ENERGY IS FAIRLY BENIGN TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY ...EVEN IN ADVANCE OF THE WEAK UPPER TROUGH. THE DOWNWARD MOTION PROGGED BEHIND THE TROUGH BY LATER WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON IS FAIRLY PRONOUNCED HOWEVER. THE BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW LOOKS TO BE DOMINATED BY DOWNSLOPING TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. DURING THE MORNING WEDNESDAY...THE UPPER TROUGH DRAGS A COLD FRONT ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA...WITH SOME UPSLOPE PROGGED FOR THE PLAINS FROM 18Z WEDNESDAY TO 06Z WEDNESDAY NIGHT. FOR MOISTURE...THERE IS A LITTLE IN THE MID AND UPPER LEVELS TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. ON WEDNESDAY...IT'S STILL PRETTY DRY. BY AFTERNOON WEDNESDAY...THERE IS DECENT MID LEVEL MOISTURE OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. THIS CONTINUES INTO WEDNESDAY EVENING. EVEN WITH PRETTY DECENT UPSLOPE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY EVENING...EITHER MODEL DEVELOPS ANY LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WHAT-SO-EVER. LAPSE RATES ARE PRETTY STEEP OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA LATE DAY TUESDAY...THERE IS SOME WEAK MID LEVEL CAPPING OVER THE WEST. BY WEDNESDAY...THE PLAINS ARE CAPPED SIGNIFICANTLY WITH THE NEW AIRMASS IN PLACE. THERE IS ALSO A MID LEVEL CAP IN PLACE OVER MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA. IT'S PRETTY WEAK OVER THE WESTERN FORECAST AREA HOWEVER. THERE IS SOMEWHAT OF A THETA-E AXIS IN PLACE OVER MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA LATE DAY TUESDAY...BETTER TO THE EAST. ON WEDNESDAY...IT IS MAINLY OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL COLORADO. THERE IS MINIMAL CAPE OVER THE FORECAST AREA LATE DAY TUESDAY...WITH SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OVER THE FAR NORTHEAST CORNER. THERE IS NEARLY NO CAPE OVER THE FORECAST AREA WEDNESDAY OR WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE QPF FIELDS HAVE A TAD OF MEASURABLE RAIN OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA...BUT THAT IS ONLY ON THE NAM. WILL GO MINIMAL POPS OVER SOME OF THE PLAINS LATE DAY TUESDAY. WILL GO MINIMAL POPS LATE DAY WEDNESDAY FOR THE HIGH MOUNTAINS AND PARK COUNTY ONLY. FOR TEMPERATURES ...TUESDAY'S HIGHS ARE 3-6 C WARMER THAN MONDAY'S. WEDNESDAY'S COOL-OFF 8-15 C FROM TUESDAY'S. FOR THE LATER DAYS...THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...MODELS HAVE WEST-SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT THURSDAY. NOW THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH MOVES IN FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY...NOT JUST FOR SATURDAY AS YESTERDAY'S 00Z RUNS INDICATED. BY LATER SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...NORTH-NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT IS PROGGED. THE GFS HAS MOISTURE AND UPSLOPE WITH THE TROUGH FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. TEMPERATURES ARE NOW COLDER ON FRIDAY ACCORDING TO THE GFS. OVERALL IT STILL LOOKS PRETTY DRY THROUGH THE LATER DAYS. WILL MAKE FEW CHANGES...NOT UNLIKE THE LATEST MODEL RUNS. && .AVIATION...AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS...DRIZZLE...AND FOG ALONG THE FRONT RANGE WILL CONTINUE TO DISSIPATE OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. AFTER THAT...VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE FROM 22Z TO 02Z WHICH MAY PRODUCE BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 30 KNOTS. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. GIMMESTAD/RJK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1042 AM MDT MON MAY 11 2009 COZ030>051-121200- 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- 1042 AM MDT MON MAY 11 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AFTER 4 PM ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS...FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND ADJACENT PLAINS. THE STORMS WILL DIMINISH LATER IN THE EVENING. ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE NORTHEAST PLAINS...THE ATMOSPHERE WILL REMAIN TOO STABLE FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. THE MAIN THREAT WITH THE SHOWERS WILL BE WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ON THE PLAINS OF NORTHEAST COLORADO TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AND IN THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS LATE ON WEDNESDAY FOLLOWING THE PASSAGE OF A COLD FRONT. THURSDAY LOOKS DRY AND WARMER AREA WIDE. THEN THE PASSAGE OF ANOTHER FRONTAL SYSTEM ON FRIDAY WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF COOLER TEMPERATURES AND A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE OUTLOOK AREA. OVER THE WEEKEND DRY CONDITIONS RETURN WITH A GRADUAL WARMING TREND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. ENTREKIN/BAKER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, May 2009
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: 174134.