A storm system brought a period of light to moderate snowfall to portions of the North Central Mountains. Storm totals included: 9 inches, 4 miles south of Idaho Springs; 8 inches, 7 miles south-southwest of Frisco; 7 inches, 7 miles south of Frisco; with 4 to 6 inches elsewhere.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 a period of light to moderate snowfall to portions of the North Central Mountains. Storm totals included: 9 inches, 4 miles south of Idaho Springs; 8 inches, 7 miles south-southwest of Frisco; 7 inches, 7 miles south of Frisco; with 4 to 6 inches elsewhere.
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 Jan 7, 2:45 PM MST, 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 245 PM MST SAT JAN 7 2012 .SHORT TERM... .LONG TERM...RIDGING ALOFT BUILDS NORTH OF US THROUGH MONDAY. AT FIRST THERE IS LITTLE WIND OR TEMPERATURE ADVECTION...THEN WARMING ALOFT SETS IN MONDAY. COULD BE SOME HIGH CLOUDS FROM THIS BUT NOT LOOKING LIKE MUCH. WITH LIGHT WINDS THE SURFACE WARMING WILL AGAIN LAG THE WARMING ALOFT ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY...CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS REASONABLE ON THIS. STILL SOME DIVERSITY IN MODEL SOLUTIONS WITH THE NEXT TROUGH COMING ABOUT WEDNESDAY. EVERYONE HAS A SPLITTING TROUGH SOMETIME WEDNESDAY...BUT HOW MUCH ENERGY SPLITS OFF TO THE SOUTH AND WHERE THAT GOES CONTINUES TO BE A MYSTERY. THERE IS BETTER AGREEMENT THAN YESTERDAY BUT THERE ARE STILL SOME ROGUE SOLUTIONS THAT PRODUCE CUTOFF LOWS WELL WEST OF US...AND SOME THAT HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY CLOSE BY TO GIVE A BETTER CHANCE OF SIGNIFICANT SNOW. ALSO SOME RUNS ARE NOW PRODUCING ENOUGH RIDGING BEHIND THE TROUGH OVER WESTERN CANADA TO FORCE COLD AIR INTO THE PLAINS...AND BRING SHARPLY COLDER TEMPERATURES INTO COLORADO. OVERALL THOUGH...MOST MODEL RUNS ARE SHOWING A TROUGH THAT WOULD PRODUCE MODEST COOLING AND ANOTHER DECENT CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW FOR A 12-24 HOUR PERIOD. THERE COULD BE A CUTOFF LOW LINGERING SOMEWHERE SOUTH OR SOUTHWEST OF US AFTER THE NORTHERN STREAM PART OF THE TROUGH GOES BY...BUT PRETTY LOW ODDS OF IT HAVING MUCH IMPACT. ONCE AGAIN WILL GO WITH MODERATE WARMING AND DRYNESS FROM THURSDAY ON...WITH A CHANCE OF SOME WARM ADVECTIONS CLOUDS/LINGERING LIGHT MOUNTAIN SNOW INTO FRIDAY. && .AVIATION... && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && RJK/GIMMESTAD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1040 AM MST SAT JAN 07 2012 COZ030>051-081300- 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- 1040 AM MST SAT JAN 07 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND THE CURRENT STORM HAS BEGUN TO PRODUCE LIGHT SNOW OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGH VALLEYS LATE THIS MORNING. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE OVER THE MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND SPREAD OUT ONTO THE PLAINS LATE AND INTO EARLY EVENING. ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH LOCALLY UP TO 8 INCHES IN A FEW AREAS BY DAWN SUNDAY. ACCUMULATIONS OVER THE FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE WILL RANGE FROM 3 TO 6 INCHES...WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES OVER THE URBAN CORRIDOR. ACCUMULATIONS OVER THE REST OF THE NORTHEASTERN PLAINS WILL BE AN INCH OR LESS. THE SNOW SHOULD GRADUALLY END FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AFTER MIDNIGHT INTO EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY ANY LINGERING LIGHT SNOW WILL COME TO AN END SUNDAY MORNING WITH CLEARING SKIES IN THE AFTERNOON AS THE DISTURBANCE MOVES AWAY FROM THE REGION. THEN DRY AND WARMER WEATHER WILL RETURN FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY. ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND COLD FRONT WILL REACH THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY WITH COLDER TEMPERATURES AND A CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. RJK/GIMMESTAD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, January 2012
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: 358552.