A storm system brought very strong winds to the mountains along with some light snowfall. The strongest gust was 8 miles south-southeast of Fraser with a gust to 116 mph, with gusts around 100 mph recorded over some of the other mountain passes.
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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 BOU wrote it up.
A storm system brought very strong winds to the mountains along with some light snowfall. The strongest gust was 8 miles south-southeast of Fraser with a gust to 116 mph, with gusts around 100 mph recorded over some of the other mountain passes. High winds developed in the foothills and plains as well, with peak wind gusts to around 75 mph. Storm totals in the high country ranged from 2 to 5 inches.
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 Apr 3, 6:06 PM MST, 10 hours 4 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 706 PM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 .UPDATE... Issued at 702 PM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 Winds have become light and relative humidities will continue to climb this evening, therefore the Red Flag Warning will be allowed to expire for counties near the Wyoming-Nebraska border. An increase in sky cover and PoPs were also included in this update as scattered showers will continue to impact the Palmer Divide and eastern plains. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Monday) Issued at 244 PM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 Water vapor satellite shows a plume of Pacific moisture extending from off the southern California coast across Colorado this afternoon. This moisture, along with weak QG ascent and low level frontogenesis, is creating a few bands of showers from South Park towards Lincoln County. This plume of moisture will not move much tonight and a shortwave trough currently over northern Utah will move towards our area which will add to the QG ascent. Showers will continue well into the overnight hours across South Park, the southern foothills, and the Palmer Divide. Another inch or two of snow may accumulate in South Park and the southern foothills but the Palmer Divide will be too warm for accumulating snow. The aforementioned trough will move past our CWA by the mid morning tomorrow and it will create QG descent in its wake. This will put an end to the showers across the southern part of our forecast area during the morning hours. The rest of the day will have dry conditions with a good deal of sunshine. There will be a strong jet stream and trough the enters the Pacific Northwest region tomorrow and this will be responsible for creating strong lee cyclogenesis across the northern High Plains. This will create a decently strong pressure gradient across the plains and southerly winds will gust up to 35 mph as a result. The strongest winds will be east of a line from Denver to Greeley. There is some lingering low level moisture that will keep relative humidity values above 20 percent across the far eastern plains which limit fire weather conditions. There are some fire weather concerns over the northern I-25 corridor tomorrow afternoon which is discussed in the fire weather section below. The sunshine along with weak warm air advection will increase high temperatures tomorrow. Most of the plains will see highs in the 60s with Greeley getting close to 70. As flow aloft increases due to the nearing jet stream, winds will increase over the mountains by the afternoon with gusts up to 50 mph along the higher ridges. .LONG TERM...(Monday night through Sunday) Issued at 258 PM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 Strong northwesterly flow aloft will cover the forecast area Monday night well into Wednesday, before becoming more due northerly Wednesday night. A cold front, bora variety, is expected to move across the CWA on Tuesday. The QG Omega fields showing mostly downward vertical velocity for the CWA through the later periods, especially from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday. Concerning the winds, models show strong northwesterlies out on the plains Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday night. If the current proggs are accurate and verify, those speeds may warrant some highlights eventually. As far as moisture goes, there is some pretty deep moisture for the mountains Monday night. It becomes more shallow from Tuesday onward. By Wednesday, the moisture is not very deep in the mountains. The mountain top wind speeds look pretty decent for orographic enhancement. There are fairly decent snowfall amounts late Monday night into Tuesday morning over the divide mountains, perhaps enough for advisories eventually. The temperatures on Tuesday look about 8 C colder than Monday's highs. Wednesday's highs are about 3 C cooler than Tuesday's. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Monday evening) Issued at 549 PM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 VFR conditions are expected through the TAF period. Cloud decks will remain above 10k ft through Monday morning. Rain showers will stay south of all terminals. Typical drainage winds will occur and shift to the a south to south eastern flow by 4Z at KDEN and KAPA. Overall, light winds will continue until Monday afternoon where a strong jet will enhance winds for all terminals. Afternoon wind gusts up to 20-22kts will occur through 00Z Monday. Clouds will trend BKN to OVC at 25k ft. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 244 PM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 Eastern Larimer and Boulder counties along with Weld County will have the warmest temperatures tomorrow and will be the focus for elevated fire weather conditions tomorrow. This is because westerly winds may mix down dry air during the afternoon meaning relative humidity will drop to the mid teens. The strength of these westerly winds will be tough to predict as models often over-mix the boundary layer and bring down winds that are too strong. It is believed this is the case in the model predictions for tomorrow so the highest modeled winds were not used in the forecast. Nonetheless, a few gusts between 20-25 mph may develop by the late afternoon in that area leading to elevated fire weather conditions. Fire weather conditions will be elevated during the afternoon hours over the plains on Tuesday through Friday. The strong winds expected, especially over the plains further east both Tuesday and Wednesday could pose a significant problem if any fires do start. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && UPDATE...AD SHORT TERM.....Danielson LONG TERM......RJK AVIATION...AD FIRE WEATHER...Danielson/RJK
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 1057 AM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 COZ030>051-041700- 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- 1057 AM MDT Sun Apr 3 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for northeast and north central Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Critical fire conditions will be in place across far northeast Colorado due to gusty north winds and low humidity. Across the higher terrain there will be a good chance of rain and snow showers especially along and south of I-70. A few inches of wet snow will be possible above 10000 feet. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday Monday night and Tuesday, snow and strong winds in the mountains will create difficult travel conditions. Tuesday, strong winds will develop across much of eastern Colorado and persist into Wednesday. Near-critical fire weather conditions are likely on the northeast plains Tuesday afternoon. Persistent dry and breezy conditions through the rest of the week will likely mean elevated fire weather conditions for much of the plains during the afternoons. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed today or tonight.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
9 high wind, 3 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Peak wind reports included 116 mph, 8 miles south-southeast of Fraser, and 98 mph, 8 miles southwest of Tabernash.
Peak wind reports included 100 mph, atop Peak 8 in Breckenridge, and 79 mph at Arapahoe Basin.
Peak wind reports included 76 mph, 3 miles east-southeast of Pinecliffe, and 75 mph, 3 miles east-southeast of Buckeye.
Peak wind gusts included 66 mph near Severance, and 63 mph in Nunn.
Peak wind gusts included: 72 mph at Fort Morgan Municipal Airport; 66 mph near Severance, 63 mph in Nunn and near Wiggins, and 58 mph in Brush.
Peak wind gusts included 65 mph near Briggsdale and 58 mph, 5 miles north of Pawnee Pass.
Peak wind gusts included 60 mph in Iliff.
Peak wind gusts included 60 mph, 3 miles north of Denver and 58 mph at Denver International Airport.
A peak wind gust to 58 mph was observed 3 miles east of Union.
A storm system brought very strong winds and light snow to the high country.
A storm system brought very strong winds and light snow to the high country.
A storm system brought very strong winds and light snow to the high country.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2022
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: 1011933, 1011947, 1011935, 1011938, 1011942, 1011943, 1011944, 1011945, 1011946, 1011928, 1011929, 1011930.