A fast moving weather disturbance brought a brief period of moderate to heavy snow to areas south of Denver. 5 inches just northeast of Castle Rock; with 5 inches in Aurora.
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.
A fast moving weather disturbance brought a brief period of moderate to heavy snow to areas south of Denver. Storm totals included 9 inches, 2 miles south of Parker; 8 inches, 4 miles northwest of Parker and 6 miles east-northeast of Centennial; 7.5 inches just northeast of Castle Rock; with 5 inches in Aurora.
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 1, 3:06 PM MST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO 306 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY) ISSUED AT 306 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 DEFORMATION BAND IS LIFTING VERY SLOWLY NORTHWARD RIGHT TOWARD THE DENVER METRO AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...THE NORTHWARD ADVANCEMENT IS SLOWING PER LATEST SATELLITE AND RADAR IMAGERY...AND WILL LIKELY STALL OUT FROM NEAR OR JUST SOUTH OF THE I-70 CORRIDOR IN THE MOUNTAINS TO NEAR DENVER AND FORT MORGAN. GIVEN LATEST SURFACE OBSERVATIONS...WILL BOOST SNOW PROBABILITIES IN THIS AREA THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS AND MENTION SOME ACCUMULATIONS. THERE IS STILL A NARROW BAND OF HEAVIER SNOW WHICH SEEMS TO BE STALLING OVER THE SOUTHERN SUBURBS...SO A FEW SPOTS COULD EASILY SEE A COUPLE MORE INCHES OF SNOW IF THIS NARROW BAND STALLS. OTHERWISE SHOULD SEE A DECREASE OF SNOW LATE THIS EVENING INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AS Q-G LIFT DECREASES. SKIES WILL CLEAR LATE...SO OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES WILL DEPEND ON EXACTLY HOW FAST OR HOW MUCH WE CLEAR. FRIDAY WILL FEATURE LIGHT WINDS...MORE SUNSHINE...AND WARMER TEMPERATURES. EVEN WITH SOME CLEARING LATE TONIGHT...INVERSIONS SHOULD BE MORE SHALLOW ON FRIDAY SO EXPECT SOME MODERATION IN VALLEY LOCATIONS...ALTHOUGH THEY WILL STILL HOLD COLDER THAN LOCATIONS IN/NEAR THE FRONT RANGE. .LONG TERM...(FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY) ISSUED AT 306 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 FLOW ALOFT OVER COLORADO WILL BE TRANSITIONING TO NORTHWESTERLY ON SATURDAY AS AN UPPER LOW OVER NEW MEXICO EJECTS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. AS THE WINDS ALOFT CHANGE...AN EMBEDDED SHORT WAVE WILL MOVE OVER THE STATE. ALONG WITH THE UPPER DISTURBANCE...A STRONG COLD FRONT BEING DRIVEN BY AN ARCTIC HIGH PRESSURE AREA WILL MOVE INTO NORTHEAST COLORADO. THIS WILL RESULT IN COOLING TEMPERATURES...INCREASING WINDS AND DEVELOPING SNOW FROM MIDDAY SATURDAY ONWARD. UP TO A COUPLE INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED FOR NOW...WHILE WINDS ON THE NORTHEAST PLAINS COULD BE AS STRONG AS 20-30 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS. HAVE ADDED AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW TO THE FORECAST FOR SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THE UPPER TROUGH AXIS SHOULD MOVE OVER THE STATE BY MIDNIGHT SATURDAY WITH SNOW ON THE PLAINS TAPERING OFF AFTER THAT. SOME SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS AS GOOD UPSLOPE FLOW AND COLD ADVECTION AT MID LEVELS CONTINUES. DRIER WEATHER SHOULD THEN PREVAIL ACROSS THE PLAINS FROM SUNDAY THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK AS AN UPPER RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE GREAT BASIN. TEMPERATURES WILL EVENTUALLY RETURN TO SEASONAL NORMALS. IN THE MOUNTAINS...SNOW SHOWER ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE SUNDAY AND MONDAY DUE TO THE CONTINUING FAVORABLE UPSLOPE FLOW PATTERN. BY MID- WEEK...AS THE UPPER RIDGE STRENGTHENS TO OUR WEST...THE MOIST FLOW INTO THE MOUNTAINS SHOULD DECREASE WITH SNOW SHOWERS COMING TO AN END. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY LATE AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 306 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 BAND OF SNOW IS MOVING VERY SLOWLY NORTH AND SHOULD AFFECT KDEN AND KAPA FROM NOW THROUGH 03Z. VISIBILITY MAINLY 1-2SM IN AREA OF LIGHT SNOW...BUT HEAVIER BAND CLOSER TO KAPA BRIEFLY REDUCIING TO 1/2-3/4SM AND CEILINGS BELOW 1500 FEET. KBJC STILL ON EDGE OF HIGHER SNOW CHANCES BUT SHOULD STILL SEE SOME LIGHT SNOW WITH 2-3SM VISBIILITIES POSSIBLE THROUGH 03Z. FROM 03Z-07Z...SNOW BAND SHOULD BREAK APART WITH IMPROVING VISIBILITIES AND CEILINGS. GRADUAL CLEARING AND VFR CONDITIONS DEVELOPING AFT 07Z. LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS TRENDING TO LIGHT SOUTH/SOUTHWEST OVERNIGHT THROUGH MOST OF FRIDAY. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...BARJENBRUCH LONG TERM...DANKERS AVIATION...BARJENBRUCH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO 1053 AM MST THU JAN 1 2015 COZ030>051-021800- 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- 1053 AM MST THU JAN 1 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGH VALLEYS ROUGHLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70 THIS AFTERNOON. AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW WILL ALSO BE DEVELOPING ALONG THE PALMER DIVIDE AND ATTEMPTING TO SPREAD NORTH INTO THE DENVER AND BOULDER METRO AREAS BY LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. FARTHER NORTH AND EAST ON THE EASTERN COLORADO PLAINS...LITTLE OR NO SNOWFALL IS ANTICIPATED. THE AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW WILL BE DISSIPATING LATE TONIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY RANGE FROM A TRACE TO 3 INCHES...WITH THE GREATER AMOUNTS FROM PARK AND SOUTHERN SUMMIT COUNTIES INTO THE SOUTHERN FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE AREA. A WEAKENING STORM SYSTEM STRETCHING OUT FROM THE FOUR CORNERS REGION WILL BRING THE AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF SNOW...COLDER TEMPERATURES...AND AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW ON SATURDAY AS A DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS COLORADO. DRIER AND WARMER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED FROM SUNDAY THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. DUE TO THE STRONG NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT DEVELOPING...THERE WILL ALSO BE STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS AT TIMES OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND EAST SLOPES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. BARJENBRUCH/DANKERS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
345 PM MST THU JAN 01 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0343 PM SNOW 2 W PARKER 39.51N 104.80W
01/01/2015 M1.0 INCH DOUGLAS CO TRAINED SPOTTER
SINCE 130 PM.
0335 PM SNOW 3 NW PARKER 39.54N 104.80W
01/01/2015 M1.2 INCH DOUGLAS CO TRAINED SPOTTER
0320 PM SNOW CENTENNIAL 39.60N 104.87W
01/01/2015 M0.8 INCH ARAPAHOE CO NWS EMPLOYEE
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
507 PM MST THU JAN 01 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0453 PM SNOW 3 NW PARKER 39.54N 104.80W
01/01/2015 M2.3 INCH DOUGLAS CO TRAINED SPOTTER
0445 PM SNOW 3 SSE AURORA 39.67N 104.79W
01/01/2015 M1.3 INCH ARAPAHOE CO TRAINED SPOTTER
0445 PM SNOW 3 WSW CONIFER 39.50N 105.35W
01/01/2015 M1.0 INCH JEFFERSON CO TRAINED SPOTTER
0343 PM SNOW 2 W PARKER 39.51N 104.80W
01/01/2015 M1.0 INCH DOUGLAS CO TRAINED SPOTTER
SINCE 130 PM.
0320 PM SNOW CENTENNIAL 39.60N 104.87W
01/01/2015 M0.8 INCH ARAPAHOE CO NWS EMPLOYEE
&&
KFREDINThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, January 2015
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: 551125, 554056.