Very strong winds developed in and near the Front Range Foothlls of Boulder County. Peak wind gusts included: 99 mph, 3 miles southeast of Jamestown; 94 mph atop Niwot Ridge; 76 mph in Longmont, 75 mph, 4 miles east-northeast of Nederland and 71 mph atop Kenosha Pass.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
Very strong winds developed in and near the Front Range Foothlls of Boulder County. Peak wind gusts included: 99 mph, 3 miles southeast of Jamestown; 94 mph atop Niwot Ridge; 76 mph in Longmont, 75 mph, 4 miles east-northeast of Nederland and 71 mph atop Kenosha Pass.
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 Feb 13, 2:58 AM MST, 1 hour 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 258 AM MST SUN FEB 13 2011 .SHORT TERM...DRY WNW FLOW ALOFT WILL BE OVER THE AREA THRU TONIGHT. MEANWHILE A WK MTN WAVE WILL BE IN PLACE THRU 18Z AND CROSS-SECTIONS SHOW COMPONENT ALONG WINDS WILL BRIEFLY INCREASE TO 40-50 KT BETWEEN 15Z AND 18Z. THUS MAY SEE A BRIEF PERIOD WHERE WINDS GET CLOSE TO HI WND CRITERIA IN THE FOOTHILLS MAINLY IN SRN PARTS OF ZONE 35 AND THE NRN PART OF ZN 36. CONFIDENCE LEVEL NOT HIGH ENOUGH AT THIS POINT TO ISSUE A WARNING BUT MAY NEED A SHORT FUSED ONE LATER THIS MORNING IF WINDS DO INCREASE. OVER THE PLAINS BNDRY LEVEL WINDS ARE FCST TO BE AROUND 40 KTS BY AFTN ALONG THE WY-NE BORDER SO COULD SEE SOME GUSTS TO 50 MPH AT TIMES. AS FOR HIGHS THIS AFTN 700 MB TEMPS ARE FCST TO RISE FM 4-5 DEGREES C WHILE WHILE 850 MB TEMPS REMAIN UNCHANGED FM SAT. WITH A DRY AIRMASS IN PLACE AND SOME DOWNSLOPE FLOW COMING OFF THE FOOTHILLS IF ADIABATIC WARMING KICKS IN HIGHS COULD REACH THE LOWER TO MID 60S UNLESS LONGMONT ANTICYCLONE KICKS IN AND SWITCHES WINDS TO A MORE NE TO E COMPONENT BY EARLY AFTN. FOR TONIGHT THE CROSS-SECTIONS DO NOT SHOW ANY TYPE OF MTN WAVE WITH MUCH LIGHTER COMPONENT ALONG WINDS SO SPEEDS OVERNIGHT SHOULD BE CONSIDERABLY LOWER IN THE FOOTHILLS. MEANWHILE A WEAK CDFNT WILL MOVE INTO NERN CO THIS EVENING AND BRING SOME SLIGHTLY COOLER AIR ALONG WITH A WEAK WIND SHIFT. .LONG TERM...THE FLOW ALOFT WILL BE RELATIVELY LIGHT MONDAY AS THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE AMPLIFIES ACROSS THE CENTRAL ROCKIES. THERE WILL BE SOME LINGERING EFFECTS OF THE SHALLOW COOL AIRMASS THAT PUSHES ACROSS THE PLAINS THIS EVENING...SO HIGHS ACROSS MOST OF THE PLAINS SHOULD HOLD IN THE 50S MONDAY DESPITE A FAIR AMOUNT OF SUNSHINE AND STILL WARM TEMPS ALOFT. BY TUESDAY HOWEVER...ENOUGH LEE TROUGHING AND DOWNSLOPING FLOW WILL BRING ANOTHER UNSEASONABLY MILD AND SPRING-LIKE DAY WITH HIGHS EXPECTED TO PUSH INTO THE 60S OVER MOST OF THE PLAINS. GRADIENTS ARE RELATIVELY WEAK YET SO BREEZY CONDITIONS WILL MAINLY BE CONFINED TO THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS. BY WEDNESDAY...THE OVERALL WEATHER PATTERN BEGINS TO CHANGE AS A DEEP UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVES TOWARD THE WEST COAST. THIS WILL BRING INCREASING SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AND LIKELY THE WARMEST DAY OF THE WEEK. AS 700 MB TEMPS NEAR 3-4C COMBINE WITH STRONGER DOWNSLOPE FLOW...WE COULD SEE A FEW SPOTS ON THE PLAINS APPROACH THE 70F DEGREE MARK. AS A RESULT...BOOSTED HIGHS A COUPLE MORE DEGREES. MOISTURE REMAINS QUITE SPARSE THROUGH WEDNESDAY...SO ONLY A FEW MID/HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS EXPECTED IN ADVANCE OF THE UPPER TROUGH. THE NEXT TROUGH SHOULD BEGIN TO IMPACT THE FORECAST AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY AS LARGE SCALE Q-G LIFT IMPINGES ON THE STATE. WE ALSO SEE COLD ADVECTION BEGINNING ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM APPEARS TO HAVE PLENTY OF MOISTURE WITH IT SO THE COMBINATION OF THESE FACTORS SHOULD BRING SOME SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. SOUTHWEST FLOW AND CROSS MOUNTAIN PRESSURE GRADIENT STRENGTHENS CONSIDERABLY ON THURSDAY SO GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS EXPECTED ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. DESPITE THE COLD ADVECTION THURSDAY...TEMPERATURES WILL STILL BE MILD ESPECIALLY OVER THE PLAINS GIVEN THE STRONG DOWNSLOPE FLOW IN PLACE AND MILD START TO THE DAY. COOLER WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR OVER THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WITH MORE COOLING ALOFT AND A BACKDOOR COLD FRONT DROPPING ACROSS THE PLAINS. THERE MAY BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A PASSING SHOWER ON THE PLAINS...BUT ODDS OF THIS ARE QUITE LOW AT THE PRESENT TIME WITH LITTLE IN THE WAY OF UPPER LEVEL Q-G SUPPORT. GFS AND CANADIAN ENSEMBLE MEMBERS POINTED TOWARD MOST ENERGY DIVING INTO THE SOUTHWESTERN U.S. SATURDAY...SO KEPT THE PLAINS DRY FOR NOW. && .AVIATION...VFR TODAY THRU TONIGHT. WINDS SHOULD BE SLY EARLY THIS MORNING IN THE 10-20 MPH RANGE BUT MAY DECREASE TO 8-10 MPH BY 15Z. BY AFTN A LONGMONT ANTICYCLONE MAY DVLP WHICH WOULD ALLOW FOR WINDS TO SHIFT TO THE ENE BY 20Z AND THEN MORE ESE BY 00Z. DURING THE EVENING WINDS SHOULD BECOME MORE SLY WITH SPEEDS AROUND 10 MPH. BNDRY LYR RH SHOWS SOME POTENTIAL FOR LOW CLOUD DEVELOPMENT OVER WELD COUNTY BY 12Z MON. HOWEVER WITH SSW WINDS IF THESE CLOUDS DO DVLP THEY SHOULD NOT AFFECT THE AIRPORT. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && 20/63
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1108 AM MST SAT FEB 12 2011 COZ030>051-131300- 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- 1108 AM MST SAT FEB 12 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WESTERLY WINDS OF 25 TO 40 MPH WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND ALONG THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS THROUGH THIS EVENING...WITH SOME GUSTS TO 60 MPH ABOVE TIMBERLINE. THE WINDS WILL INCREASE AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH GUSTS TO 70 MPH ABOVE TIMBERLINE. THE GUSTY WINDS WILL CREATE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES IN EXPOSED LOCATIONS WITH SNOW ON THE GROUND. TEMPERATURES WILL BE WARM ACROSS THE PLAINS TODAY AS HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO BUILD OVER THE REGION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS WILL CONTINUE IN AND NEAR THE FRONT RANGE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS THROUGH SUNDAY...WITH PEAK GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH IN WIND PRONE AREAS. DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED OVER THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH WEDNESDAY... WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW RETURNING TO THE MOUNTAINS FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES LOOK TO REMAIN ABOVE SEASONAL NORMALS ALL OF NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. D_L/RJK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, February 2011
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: 285602, 285603.