A vigorous weather system generated high winds across many portions of southern Colorado. Some of the higher reported wind gusts included: near 60 mph at Florence (Fremont County) and Lamar (Prowers County), 60 to 70 mph near Two Buttes (Baca County), Cheraw (Otero County), Walsenburg and La Veta (Huerfano County), Wetmore (Custer County), and Hoehne (Las Animas County), 70 to 80 mph at Colorado…
Every event with a place to put it; 22 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 PUB wrote it up.
A vigorous weather system generated high winds across many portions of southern Colorado. Some of the higher reported wind gusts included: near 60 mph at Florence (Fremont County) and Lamar (Prowers County), 60 to 70 mph near Two Buttes (Baca County), Cheraw (Otero County), Walsenburg and La Veta (Huerfano County), Wetmore (Custer County), and Hoehne (Las Animas County), 70 to 80 mph at Colorado City (Pueblo County), and around 85 mph near La Veta Pass ((Costilla County) and Swissvale (Fremont County).
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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 5, 7:32 PM MST, 1 hour 28 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 732 PM MST Sun Mar 5 2017 .UPDATE... Issued at 719 PM MST Sun Mar 5 2017 Updated to end red flag warning for this evening. Also made some changes to the High Wind Warning, adding lower elevations of Teller County beginning tonight, and the San Luis Valley for tomorrow. For Teller County, HRRR suggests strong winds spilling down the slopes of Pike's Peak late tonight/early Mon morning, with potential for strong winds in the Cheyenne Mountain area after midnight. Winds may be lighter farther north (i.e. Woodland Park area), though east slopes of the Ramparts will likely approach high wind criteria at times Mon morning. For the San Luis Valley, given 45 kt gusts at KALS earlier today and even stronger gradient and upper level winds forecast for Mon, 50 kt plus gusts look possible, especially late morning/early afternoon. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Tuesday) Issued at 322 PM MST Sun Mar 5 2017 ...Damaging Winds with High Fire Danger Southeast Mountains and Plains...Wind Driven Snow for the Continental Divide tonight through Monday... Upper trof over the Great Basin will translate eastward across Colorado tonight and Monday bringing a myriad of fire...high wind...and snow highlights to the area. Snow has already ramped up along the Continental Divide this afternoon...and this will continue through Monday...as focus gradually shifts from the southwest mountains tonight, into the central mountains on Monday. Snowfall amounts will come up into the low end advisory numbers (around 4 to 8 inches) but with winds gusting up to 75 mph at times...the blowing snow will be the primary concern with impacts to travel across the high mountain passes. Winter Weather Advisories for the continental divide will continue until 6 PM Monday...but southern areas will probably be able to be cancelled a little sooner. Meanwhile...Gusty winds and low relative humidity values have resulted in Red Flag conditions across much of the southeast plains this afternoon. Its been a little slow to materialize across the far east plains but with a few more hours to go...most areas will likely verify. Will maintain the current Red Flag Warning until 7 PM. Meanwhile...upper jet is already translating in from the west with 120+kt southwesterly jet setting up across southern CO by 06z. Winds at mtn top level will increase into the 60-70kt range...and although there will be quite a bit of forward shear...especially towards 12z...we should still see a burst of high winds with the bora cold front as it moves across the mountains later tonight. Already seeing gusts up to 70 mph across some of the mountain sensors. So have hoisted High Wind Warnings beginning at 7 PM for the southeast mountains...spreading into the southern I-25 corridor (south of Colorado City) and Wet Mountain valley after 11 PM...then into the southeast plains after 6 AM. Suspect we should see some gusts up to 85 mph across the mountains...with gusts to around 60 to 65 mph across the plains. Unfortunately with such low relative humidity values we should see another day of critical fire weather conditions with dangerous fire behavior and rapid rates of fire spread possible. Thus another Red Flag Warning goes into effect at 8 AM and continues until 7 PM on Monday. Winds will gradually diminish Monday evening and snow will taper off across the mountains. Tuesday will be much quieter wind-wise across the area...though still breezy across the mountains. Conditions may come close to critical fire weather parameters across Teller and El Paso counties Tuesday afternoon...but it is expected to be be too brief for any additional fire weather highlights. -KT .LONG TERM...(Tuesday night through Sunday) Issued at 322 PM MST Sun Mar 5 2017 There is good agreement between the models and ensembles through the end of the week, but major differences Friday through the weekend. Tuesday night through Friday...zonal westerly flow is forecast across Southern Colorado during this time period. Warm temperatures are expected with 70s for highs across the Plains. Overnight lows will also remain warm with 30s to 40s. A weak wave embedded in the flow may produce isolated showers over the Central Mountains Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Dry relative humidity values and light winds are expected to prevail through Thursday. By Friday the upper pattern begins to diverge with elevated fire weather concerns across the Plains as winds begin to increase. Saturday and Sunday...models are quite different as we head into next weekend. The GFS brings a strong upper level shortwave trough across Colorado. This would bring a much higher fire weather concern to the area Saturday, and especially on Sunday. Temperatures would remain warm with 60s and 70s across the region. In addition, snow would move into the Continental Divide on Saturday and Sunday with a cold front dropping south across the Plains Sunday evening. The ECMWF on the other hand is much different. It builds an upper ridge over Utah over the weekend. It does drop a cold front south on Saturday with cooler temperatures behind the front with 50s and 60s for highs by Sunday. This would also limit snowfall over the mountains to isolated activity over the Central Mountains only. The gradient across the area would also be much weaker with a reduced risk of fire weather conditions. We will continue to monitor the model trends over the next few days. Mozley && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Monday evening) Issued at 322 PM MST Sun Mar 5 2017 Southwest winds will gust to around 25-35 kts in the TAF sites through 02z. Could see a window for low level wind shear in KCOS starting around 02-04z and persisting until winds pick up later in the night. As the upper jet shifts overhead...mountain top winds will increase to around 50-60 kts sustained by around 03z. Should see a surge in winds come down the eastern slopes into the TAF sites overnight 08z-10z timeframe with gusts to around 30-40 kts. Wind gusts will be a lot stronger for the mountains...with localized gusts to around 65-75 kts. Winds will shift around from the west Monday morning with sustained winds approaching 35 kts by afternoon with sporadic gusts to around 50-55 kts at times. IFR conditions will continue along the Contdvd...and should become more widespread by this evening. Widespread LIFR conditions in SN and BLSN will persist along the Contdvd through Monday. Wind in the 40-50 kt range with gusts to around 60-70 kts will be possible over the higher areas. -KT && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning from 6 AM to 6 PM MST Monday for COZ069>071- 083>086-089-093>099. Red Flag Warning from 8 AM to 7 PM MST Monday for COZ222-226>237. High Wind Warning from 11 PM this evening to 6 PM MST Monday for COZ078-087-088. High Wind Warning until 6 PM MST Monday for COZ072>075-079>082. Winter Weather Advisory until 6 PM MST Monday for COZ058-060-066- 068. && UPDATE...PETERSEN SHORT TERM...KT LONG TERM...MOZLEY AVIATION...KT
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 712 PM MST Sun Mar 5 2017 COZ058>089-093>099-070215- Western Mosquito Range/East Lake County Above 11000 Ft- Leadville Vicinity/Lake County Below 11000 Ft- Eastern Sawatch Mountains above 11000 Ft- Western Chaffee County Between 9000 and 11000 Ft- Central Chaffee County Below 9000 Ft- Western Mosquito Range/East Chaffee County above 9000Ft- Saguache County West of Continental Divide Below 10000 Ft- Saguache County East of Continental Divide below 10000 Ft- La Garita Mountains Above 10000 Ft- Upper Rio Grande Valley/Eastern San Juan Mountains Below 10000 Ft- Eastern San Juan Mountains Above 10000 Ft- Del Norte Vicinity/Northern San Luis Valley Below 8500 Ft- Alamosa Vicinity/Central San Luis Valley Below 8500 Ft- Southern San Luis Valley- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Between 8500 And 11000 Ft- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains above 11000 Ft- Southern Sangre De Cristo Mountains Between 7500 and 11000 Ft- Southern Sangre De Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Ft- Northwestern Fremont County Above 8500Ft- Western/Central Fremont County Below 8500 Ft- Wet Mountain Valley Below 8500 Ft- Wet Mountains between 6300 and 10000Ft- Wet Mountains above 10000 Ft- Teller County/Rampart Range above 7500fT/Pike's Peak Between 7500 And 11000 Ft-Pikes Peak above 11000 Ft- Canon City Vicinity/Eastern Fremont County- Northern El Paso County/Monument Ridge/Rampart Range Below 7500 Ft- Colorado Springs Vicinity/Southern El Paso County/Rampart Range Below 7400 Ft-Pueblo Vicinity/Pueblo County Below 6300 Feet- Walsenburg Vicinity/Upper Huerfano River Basin Below 7500 Ft- Trinidad Vicinity/Western Las Animas County Below 7500 Ft- Crowley County-La Junta Vicinity/Otero County- Eastern Las Animas County-Western Kiowa County- Eastern Kiowa County-Las Animas Vicinity/Bent County- Lamar Vicinity/Prowers County-Springfield Vicinity/Baca County- 712 PM MST Sun Mar 5 2017 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...Tonight Snow and wind will continue tonight along the Continental Divide with accumulations of 2 to 4 inches possible by Monday morning. Winds gusting over 60 mph will produce areas of blowing snow and poor visibilities through the mountain passes. Late tonight, a strong Pacific jet stream will move across the area, with winds increasing over the mountains. A few gusts to 75 mph will be likely over higher peaks, especially after midnight, with gusts to near 60 mph over lower elevations. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday Very windy conditions are expected on Monday over most of the area, with winds gusting to around 75 mph or greater across the mountains and gusts of 60 mph or stronger across the plains. The combination of dry fuels, strong winds, and low humidities will cause extremely critical fire weather conditions for most of the day Monday over Fremont county, the Interstate 25 corridor and all the southeastern plains. Accumulating wind-driven snow is expected to continue over the Continental Divide Monday into Monday night with additional snow accumulations generally in the one to five inch range. Visibility over high mountain passes will drop to a quarter mile or less at times under some of the heavier snow bands. The next upper level storm system will arrive this weekend. It will bring with it the potential for mountain snowfall along with a return to elevated fire weather concerns. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather conditions that meet reporting criteria for spotters will be possible tonight along the Continental Divide, and early Monday morning across the eastern mountains and plains. 88/88
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
612 PM MST SUN MAR 5 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0500 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 9 NNW WALSENBURG 37.75N 104.84W
03/05/2017 M63 MPH HUERFANO CO MESONET
MESONET STATION 9 NNW WALSENBURG /CO030/.
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NWS PUEBLO CO
IRIS SYSTEMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
823 PM MST SUN MAR 5 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0758 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 ESE WETMORE 38.21N 105.00W
03/05/2017 M65 MPH PUEBLO CO MESONET
MESONET STATION 5 ESE WETMORE /RDDC2/.
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NWS PUEBLO CO
IRIS SYSTEMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
22 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, March 2017
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: 674812, 674814, 683857, 674816, 683852, 683854, 683856, 683858, 683859, 674819, 683865, 683866, 683867, 674820, 683860, 683861, 683862, 674818, 683864, 683868, 683851, 674817.