A passing storm system generated accumulating snow, especially over portions of Custer, Fremont and Huerfano counties from the afternoon of the 14th into the morning of the 15th. Some of the higher reported snow totals with this event included six inches of snow near the Spanish Peaks in Huerfano county, seven inches of snow near Wetmore in Custer county and eight inches of snow near Texas Creek…
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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 passing storm system generated accumulating snow, especially over portions of Custer, Fremont and Huerfano counties from the afternoon of the 14th into the morning of the 15th. Some of the higher reported snow totals with this event included six inches of snow near the Spanish Peaks in Huerfano county, seven inches of snow near Wetmore in Custer county and eight inches of snow near Texas Creek in Fremont county. Finally, ten inches of snow graced locations near Hillside in Fremont county as this storm system moved across 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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 13, 10:22 PM MST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 1122 PM MDT Sat Oct 13 2018 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Sunday) Issued at 325 PM MDT Sat Oct 13 2018 ...Wintry Conditions Tonight through Sunday... Currently, pleasant weather across all of southern Colorado with clear skies and light to breezy winds. Temperatures span the mid 60s to low 70s across the eastern Colorado plains and Colorado Springs. GOES-16 water vapor imagery shows a shortwave trough dropping south/southeast into southwest Wyoming, and a closed low slowly moving northeast through southern California. Tonight and tomorrow, the northern shortwave will continue to drop south into northwest Colorado this evening, spreading QG forcing for ascent over the state. An associated southwest to northeast oriented jet will also sag south with the shortwave, the right jet entrance region of which will be positioned over southern Colorado, aiding the large scale ascent. The southern wave will help to increase moisture across southern Colorado through the evening as it continues moving east but dampens. Further, a lee trough developing near the Colorado/New Mexico border late this afternoon will help drive moisture north into the eastern Colorado plains. The northern wave will send a cold front down the eastern Colorado plains through the evening, advancing through Colorado Springs area around midnight and across the southern Colorado/New Mexico border by around 3 AM. Along and behind the cold front, winds will increase out of the north to 20-25 mph across the plains, gusting to 30-40 mph through the morning hours, slowly decreasing during the afternoon. Behind the front and under the influence of the aforementioned favorable synoptic scale forcing and favorable moisture, precipitation will quickly develop and fill in from north to south across all of the plains and eastern mountains. Precip beginning as rain will rapidly switch over to snow as the cold air will waste no time funneling into the region. Model soundings across the far eastern plains indicated the potential for a brief period of freezing drizzle before the transition to snow. Winds behind the front become northeasterly/upslope into the southern Sangres, Wets and Raton Mesa, helping to enhance QPF generation in these locations where a Winter Storm Warning is in effect. For days, models have indicated a band of higher QPF developing during the afternoon across the southern plains, extending from the Raton Mesa northeast into Prowers County. Finally, downsloping flow into Colorado Springs and Pueblo may limit precip development, however, strong synoptic scale forcing will still allow for at least minor accumulations. The Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect across the plains. Farther west, snowfall is forecast with this system in the central and southwest mountains, and high valleys, with only up to advisory level accumulations expected. .LONG TERM...(Sunday night through Saturday) Issued at 325 PM MDT Sat Oct 13 2018 The first big push of cold air and winter weather will continue to impact southeast Colorado Sunday night and Monday. Models are in fairly good agreement with the upper trof digging farther southwest and cutting off an upper low over Arizona Monday. This has slowed the progression of the storm system and may prolong snowfall in the southern mountains. Quite a few differences show up in the models in regard to favored locations for snowfall and snow amounts. NAM is a little faster moving precipitation out of the area, while the GFS lingers snowfall longer with higher amounts over the southern Sangres and east side of the San Luis Valley. Snow amounts of 1 to 4 inches continue to look reasonable across the plains. The heaviest amounts will fall over the southern Sangres where 8 to 16 inches is possible. East to northeast surface winds allow colder air to spill into the San Luis Valley Sunday where snowfall of a trace to 3 inches is possible, especially along the east edge of the valley. Snowfall will also diminish over the southeast plains Sunday night with really cold air bringing the first hard freeze to the plains. Travel will be impacted, especially in the southern Colorado mountains. In addition, sprinkler systems and outdoor faucets may freeze if not winterized ahead of the low temperatures Monday and Tuesday mornings. In addition, many trees at the lower elevations have not lost their leaves yet, and we could see some broken tree limbs and power outages. While this is not a big snow maker for the lower elevations, it is the first of the season and fairly early coming in mid-October. A few lingering snow showers are possible in the San Juans into Monday. Models continue to show the cut off upper low sitting over southern Arizona through much of the upcoming week. This will keep periods of snow going in the San Juans, but not a lot of confidence in pinpointing the timing or snow amounts for the upcoming week. Forecast temperatures for the extended period feature very cold low temperatures Tuesday morning with lows in the teens at the higher elevations and low to mid 20s on the plains. Highs Tuesday will begin to warm up with 30s in the mountains and 40s to lower 50s on the plains. Highs Wednesday warm a few degrees. Overall, forecast temperatures are below climatological normals for the period. Lows Monday morning and Tuesday morning will bring a hard freeze and effectively end the growing season across the plains. Stark && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Sunday night) Issued at 1041 PM MDT Sat Oct 13 2018 A strong cold front was moving across the region at this hour. The front went by KCOS around 0400 UTC and KPUB around 0500 UTC. Gusty northerly winds are occurring behind the front and low cigs were moving south towards the region. Periods of snow are expected to develop at KCOS and KPUB during the early morning hours and last into mid afternoon, with cigs rising and precip ending. Some accumulations are likely at KCOS, with only light precip with little accumulations at KPUB. KALS will see snow showers after sunrise lasting into early afternoon. Brief MVFR will be possible at times with the snow showers. && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory from 6 AM Sunday to 6 AM MDT Monday for COZ058>063-076>078-083-085-086-089-093-095>099. Winter Storm Warning from 3 AM Sunday to 6 AM MDT Monday for COZ072>075-079-080-082-087-088-094. Winter Weather Advisory from 9 AM Sunday to noon MDT Monday for COZ067>071. Winter Weather Advisory from 3 AM Sunday to 6 AM MDT Monday for COZ081-084. && SHORT TERM...LINE LONG TERM...STARK AVIATION...HODANISH
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 741 PM MDT Sat Oct 13 2018 COZ058>089-093>099-150145- Western Mosquito Range/East Lake County Above 11000 Feet- Leadville Vicinity/Lake County Below 11000 Feet- Eastern Sawatch Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Western Chaffee County Between 9000 and 11000 Feet- Central Chaffee County Below 9000 Feet- Western Mosquito Range/East Chaffee County Above 9000 Feet- Saguache County West of Continental Divide Below 10000 Feet- Saguache County East of Continental Divide Below 10000 Feet- La Garita Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Upper Rio Grande Valley/Eastern San Juan Mountains Below 10000 Feet-Eastern San Juan Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Del Norte Vicinity/Northern San Luis Valley Below 8500 Feet- Alamosa Vicinity/Central San Luis Valley Below 8500 Feet- Southern San Luis Valley- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Between 8500 And 11000 Feet- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Between 7500 and 11000 Feet- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Northwestern Fremont County Above 8500 Feet- Western/Central Fremont County Below 8500 Feet- Wet Mountain Valley Below 8500 Feet- Wet Mountains between 6300 and 10000 Feet- Wet Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Teller County/Rampart Range Above 7500 Feet/Pikes Peak Between 7500 And 11000 Feet-Pikes Peak Above 11000 Feet- Canon City Vicinity/Eastern Fremont County- Northern El Paso County/Monument Ridge/Rampart Range Below 7500 Feet- Colorado Springs Vicinity/Southern El Paso County/Rampart Range Below 7400 Feet-Pueblo Vicinity/Pueblo County Below 6300 Feet- Walsenburg Vicinity/Upper Huerfano River Basin Below 7500 Feet- Trinidad Vicinity/Western Las Animas County Below 7500 Feet- 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- 741 PM MDT Sat Oct 13 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...Tonight A strong cold front will blast through eastern Colorado tonight with snow developing behind the front toward morning. Snow accumulations up to 2 inches will be possible over the Pikes Peak Region and southeast mountains as well as Continental Divide locations by sunrise Sunday with just trace amounts elsewhere. Strong northerly winds, gusting around 40 mph at times, will result in areas of blowing snow by Sunday morning. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday Another storm system will move across the region Sunday through Monday morning, producing generally 3 to 7 inches of new snow for the forecast area. The heaviest snowfall is expected over the eastern and southwestern mountains, in addition to the southern foothills and southern areas along the Raton Mesa, where total amounts in excess of a foot are possible. Gusty winds across the eastern plains Sunday morning will create areas of blowing snow and reduced visibility. Travel on Interstate 25 south of Pueblo Sunday morning, as well as along Highway 160 across La Veta Pass, will likely be difficult. Snow is forecast to come to an end across the area Monday morning, lingering the longest across the southwest mountains. A hard freeze will be possible across all of the southeast Colorado plains early Monday morning as temperatures are expected to fall into the teens to mid 20s. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather conditions that meet reporting criteria for spotters will be possible after midnight across the Pikes Peak Region, the southeastern mountains as well as over Continental Divide locations.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, October 2018
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: 791894, 791895, 791896, 791897, 791899, 791900, 791901, 791902, 791903, 791904, 791905.