A persistent and moist northwest flow produced significant snowfall in the mountains of northwest Colorado.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 GJT wrote it up.
A persistent and moist northwest flow produced significant snowfall in the mountains of northwest Colorado.
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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 29, 3:46 AM MST, 10 hours 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 446 AM MDT TUE MAR 29 2011 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT... SNOWFALL HAS DIMINISHED EARLY THIS MORNING AS THE UPPER LOW SHIFTS EAST OF THE DIVIDE. WHILE SOME WRAP AROUND MOISTURE WILL WORK ITS WAY OVER THE NORTHERN EDGE...ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ON THE LIGHT SIDE. THEREFORE WILL GO AHEAD AND DROP THE HILITES WITH THIS PACKAGE. BY THE AFTERNOON ONLY A FEW SHOWERS WILL LINGER OVER THE NORTHERN DIVIDE AS WARMING ALOFT MOVES IN FROM THE WEST. EARLY THIS MORNING...THE NEXT SURGE OF MOISTURE HAS COME ONSHORE OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST RIDING ALONG AN UPPER LEVEL JET. BY THIS AFTERNOON THE LEADING EDGE OF THIS MOISTURE...IN THE FORM OF HIGH CLOUDS...WILL BEGIN TO STREAM OVER THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST. IN ADDITION A COUPLE OF WAVES EMBEDDED IN THE NORTHWEST FLOW WILL BRUSH THE AREA TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THERE CONTINUES TO BE SOME TIMING DISCREPANCIES...AND THE BEST DYNAMICS WILL GENERALLY REMAIN TO OUR NORTH AND EAST. THAT SAID...OROGRAPHICS AND THE WEAK LIFT PROVIDED BY EACH WAVE AS IT PASSES WILL RESULT IN MORE MOUNTAIN SNOW...AGAIN FAVORING THE NORTH. EXPECT THE CHANCE FOR SHOWERS TO INCREASE BY LATE TONIGHT...MAINLY OVER THE NORTH. SNOW WILL BECOME LIKELY BY EARLY WEDNESDAY OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS...SPREADING TO THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS BY THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE POPS WILL SPREAD INTO THE UPPER GUNNISON BASIN AND NORTHWEST SAN JUANS BY THE AFTERNOON. THESE WAVES ARE NOT AS STRONG AS THE LATEST SYSTEM...SO EXPECT ACCUMULATIONS TO REMAIN BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA. TEMPERATURES WILL GENERALLY REMAIN BELOW NORMAL. .LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY... MODELS IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THE FIRST 84 HOURS OF THE 00Z/29 CYCLE...HOWEVER DIFFERENCES SHOW UP BY MIDDAY FRIDAY WHICH UNDERCUT FORECAST ACCURACY/CONFIDENCE FOR THIS WEEKEND'S WEATHER. HPC FAVORED A BLEND OF THE GLOBAL ENSEMBLE FORECAST SYSTEM AND THE ECMWF WHICH SEEMS REASONABLE...THOUGH DIFFICULT TO TRANSLATE INTO LOCAL GRID FIELDS. THURSDAY-THURSDAY NIGHT: MODELS WERE CONSISTENT IN DEPICTING CONTINUED OROGRAPHIC SNOWFALL FOR THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS IN PERSISTENT NORTHWEST FLOW...DIMINISHING LATE THURSDAY NIGHT. RIDGE BUILDING OVER THE WESTERN U.S. WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO WARM TO ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS WEEK. FRIDAY-FRIDAY NIGHT: RIDGE SHIFTS EASTWARD AT THE END OF THE WEEK WITH THE RIDGE AXIS OVERHEAD BY FRIDAY MORNING. CONSEQUENTLY... EXPECT DRY WEATHER REGION-WIDE WITH TEMPERATURES RISING TO WELL ABOVE NORMAL. SATURDAY: AS MENTIONED ABOVE...FORECAST CONFIDENCE NOT GREAT THIS WEEKEND AS MODEL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MORE PROGRESSIVE GFS AND SLOWER ECMWF BECOME MORE PRONOUNCED. GIVEN DIFFERENCES...WILL HOLD OFF MAKING ANY CHANGES TO THE GOING FORECAST AND WILL HOPE FOR BETTER AGREEMENT IN LATER RUNS. LATEST FORECAST FEATURED SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS DEVELOPING IN PRE-FRONTAL REGIME WITH STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. SHOULD THIS SCENARIO PLAY OUT THERE IS A STRONG POSSIBILITY THAT THE REGION COULD EXPERIENCE ADVISORY LEVEL WINDS DURING THE AFTERNOON WITH VIRGA AND SHOWERS ENHANCING GUSTS. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN WELL ABOVE NORMAL THANKS TO STRONG MIXING ...THOUGH CLOUDS...VIRGA AND LIGHT SHOWERS SHOULD INHIBIT TEMPERATURES FROM RISING MUCH OVER FRIDAY'S HIGHS. SATURDAY NIGHT-MONDAY: IMPRESSIVE PRE-FRONTAL WINDS OF 50KTS AT 700MB...IMPRESSIVE PREFRONTAL BAJA MOISTURE TAP...THEN IMPRESSIVE FRONTAL FORCING WITH AN IMPRESSIVE COLD CORE...ALL THIS POINTS TO AN IMPRESSIVE WINTER-LIKE STORM. CURRENT GFS TIMING IS FOR FRONTAL PASSAGE SATURDAY NIGHT. A -34C COLD CORE WORK THROUGH THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND THE -30C ISOTHERM BRUSHING THE NORTH SUNDAY OR SUNDAY NIGHT. OROGRAPHIC SNOWFALL WILL CONTINUE OVER NW FACING SLOPES INTO MONDAY. HIGHLIGHTS ARE LIKELY FAVORING THE NORTH WITH SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW. && .AVIATION... SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO DECREASE ACROSS AREAS NORTH AND EAST OF A KEGE-KRIL-KCAG LINE THIS MORNING. AREAS OF SHOWERS WILL LIKELY RESULT IN MVFR CIGS RESULTING IN MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS AND ONLY LOCALIZED MVFR VSBY. ELSEWHERE...EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS DURING THE DAY. A WEAK DISTURBANCE WILL BRING AN INCREASE IN SHOWER ACTIVITY OVERNIGHT... MAINLY IMPACTING THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS AND THE EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS OF NORTHEAST UTAH. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...NONE. UT...NONE. SHORT TERM.....EH LONG TERM......NL/JOE AVIATION.......NL
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 545 AM MDT TUE MAR 29 2011 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-301200- ANIMAS RIVER BASIN-ARCHES/GRAND FLAT-CANYONLANDS/NATURAL BRIDGES- CENTRAL COLORADO RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL GUNNISON AND UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN- CENTRAL YAMPA RIVER BASIN-DEBEQUE TO SILT CORRIDOR- EASTERN UINTA BASIN-EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS-FLAT TOPS- FOUR CORNERS/UPPER DOLORES RIVER- GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS- GRAND VALLEY-LA SAL AND ABAJO MOUNTAINS-LOWER YAMPA RIVER BASIN- NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-PARADOX VALLEY/LOWER DOLORES RIVER- ROAN AND TAVAPUTS PLATEAUS-SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN-SOUTHEAST UTAH- SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-TAVAPUTS PLATEAU- UNCOMPAHGRE PLATEAU AND DALLAS DIVIDE-UPPER GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY- UPPER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS- 545 AM MDT TUE MAR 29 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW SHOWERS WILL QUICKLY DIMINISH OVER THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING...LINGERING LONGEST OVER THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS NEAR THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. ONLY LIGHT ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED BY EARLY AFTERNOON. THEN THE CHANCE FOR SNOW WILL REDEVELOP LATE TONIGHT OVER THE MOUNTAINS...FAVORING THE NORTH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY SNOW...MAINLY OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS WILL INCREASE ON WEDNESDAY AND CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY. ANOTHER STORM WILL BRING MOUNTAIN SNOW AND VALLEY RAIN TO THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
114 PM MDT TUE MAR 29 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0853 AM SNOW HAYDEN 40.49N 107.26W
03/29/2011 M7.5 INCH ROUTT CO CO-OP OBSERVER
24HR SNOWFALL
&&
EVENT NUMBER GJT1100316
DCPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
116 PM MDT TUE MAR 29 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0943 AM SNOW STEAMBOAT SPRINGS 40.48N 106.82W
03/29/2011 M4.8 INCH ROUTT CO CO-OP OBSERVER
24HR SNOWFALL
&&
EVENT NUMBER GJT1100317
DCPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
153 PM MDT TUE MAR 29 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM SNOW GOTHIC 38.96N 106.99W
03/29/2011 M7.5 INCH GUNNISON CO DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
&&
EVENT NUMBER GJT1100318
DCThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowfall of 5 to 12 inches was measured across the area. Locally higher amounts included 16 inches at the Tower SNOTEL site. Winds gusted 20 to 35 mph and produced local blowing and drifting snow. This snowfall event continued into April.
Snowfall of 5 to 10 inches was measured across the area. Winds gusted 20 to 35 mph and produced local blowing and drifting snow. This snowfall event continued into April.
Snowfall of 3 to 11 inches was measured across the area. Winds gusted 20 to 35 mph and produced local blowing and drifting snow. This snowfall event continued into April.
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, March 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: 314289, 314290, 314291.