A large prolonged winter storm moved into Southern Colorado on February 1st producing pockets of heavy snow over the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Wet Mountains, and the I-25 corridor. Very cold temperatures with wind chills in the -15 to -25 F range were experienced with this system.
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 PUB wrote it up.
A large prolonged winter storm moved into Southern Colorado on February 1st producing pockets of heavy snow over the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Wet Mountains, and the I-25 corridor. Very cold temperatures with wind chills in the -15 to -25 F range were experienced with this system.
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 Jan 31, 11:05 PM MST, 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 1105 PM MST Mon Jan 31 2022 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Tuesday) Issued at 254 PM MST Mon Jan 31 2022 Key Messages: 1) Cold front tonight. 2) Much colder tomorrow with snow beginning over the mountains during the afternoon. Currently...Brisk westerly flow aloft along with a healthy dose of mid and high level clouds has moved across the forecast area today. There have been some spotty critical fire weather conditions for the typical windy areas such as Walsenburg and Pueblo, where very dry air has combined with westerly winds gusting up to 25 to 30 mph. Temps have warmed into the mid to upper 30s for the San Luis Valley, upper 40s for the Upper Arkansas River Valley, and into the 60s across the plains. Tonight...One upper disturbance passing by to the north will push a cold front south into eastern Colorado tonight, which should cross the Palmer Divide some time between 7 PM and 9 PM. Winds will shift to a north to northeast direction behind the front, and colder air will then filter in. There will also be occasionally brisk north winds of 15 to 20 mph across the far eastern plains near the Kansas border. Increased cloud cover should keep the overnight low temps from dropping too fast, at least initially, so plan on minimum temps of zero to 10 above for the San Luis Valley, and teens to mid 20s for most other locations. Tomorrow...The upper low pressure system begins to strengthen and drop south into the Great Basin tomorrow, shifting the flow aloft to a more southwest direction. Models are indicating a very healthy moisture tap with this southwest flow pushing into the Four Corners. Combined with the cold air at the surface, this is setting up to be the classic overrunning scenario with enhanced moisture advection with southwest flow aloft streaming across very cold air and east/northeast flow at the surface. Much of the significant snowfall is forecast to occur starting Tuesday night, but snow does initiate across the higher terrain of the Continental Divide and the Sangres and Wets during the afternoon. Therefore, began a Winter Storm Warning for those mts starting at 2 PM, and persisting through the entire event. As for temps, plan on a huge change from Monday with highs only climbing into the 30s, to maybe around 40 degrees closer to the Kansas border. Moore .LONG TERM...(Tuesday night through Monday) Issued at 254 PM MST Mon Jan 31 2022 Key Messages: 1) Snow will continue to increase across southern Colorado starting overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday, before dissipating Thursday morning. 2) Frigid Arctic air will spill across southern Colorado during mid week, with bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills expected, especially Thursday morning. Wednesday - Thursday... The long term will start off active across the forecast area. A large trough will continue to dig southward towards the four corners region early Wednesday, and then begin pushing eastward across Colorado and New Mexico through Thursday morning. As the trough digs and pushes eastward, the system is expected to tighten up and become more "focused" as it passes the southern Colorado region. Given the strong trough, and tighter more closed nature of it, synoptic support and dynamics will increase considerably across the region. At the surface, arctic air will spill in across the region behind a strong cold front that will drop southward earlier in the week. With the strong trough and the arctic air in place, widespread snow is expected across the forecast area. Models continue to remain in agreement about the track of the system, and now with tightening the system up as it pushes eastward. Given this, confidence in higher snow totals across the region has increased. There are still hints that snow totals will continue to slightly increase, especially across the eastern plains, where stronger isentropic ascent, and possibly mid level frontogenesis, will materialize. The mountains will still see the higher snow totals, with the Sangre de Cristo, San Juan, La Garita, and Wet Mountains seeing 10+ inches, possibly up to around 2 feet in places. The Sawatch, Mosquito, and Rampart Mountains will see 5-10 inches, with locally higher amounts possible. At lower elevations, the San Luis Valley (SLV) and Upper Arkansas River Valley will see 3-8 inches, with the SLV seeing the higher end of that range. As for the eastern plains, they are expected to see 3-8 inches, with the highest amounts along the I25 corridor region given surface upsloping enhancing snow development along that region. Snow is expected to slowly dissipate from north to south Thursday as the storm system continues its trek eastward. In addition to the threat of snow, bitter temperatures will overspread the forecast area. Models continue to show signs that high and low temperatures will be 20°F or more below average for this time of year. This will likely become compounded by the new snowpack across much of the region. The only thing that will help to keep temperatures from getting as cold as they could will be the cloud cover. Also with these frigid temperatures will come bitter wind chill temperatures. Wind chills will likely be -10°F or colder for the forecast area. If clouds clear more than currently forecast, actual and feels like temperatures will be lower than currently forecast. These temperatures will need to be monitored, as temperatures reaching Wind Chill Advisory, and possibly Wind Chill Warning, criteria could be met. Remember to continue to check the forecast for the latest updates, as details about this storm system and its impacts continue to become more clear. Friday - Monday... After the mid week storm system, ensemble and deterministic models show a chaotic evolution. Overall, there is agreement between models showing a ridge of high pressure developing over the western US and a trough developing over the eastern US. Colorado will be right in the transition zone of these two synoptic features. This overall pattern would bring more generally more subsidence the region. With that, precipitation chances would remain low and a warming trend would be expected. The exception to this is the development of shortwaves and cutoff lows off of the western periphery of the troughing out east. How strong these features will be and where there ultimately will track is still not clear, but the signals are there that they will exist. If, and when, one of these features impacts the region, precipitation chances would be increased, especially along the mountains. Temperatures would also be expected to cool back down to near or below average. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Tuesday night) Issued at 1056 PM MST Mon Jan 31 2022 VFR conditions with dry weather are expected this morning through much of the day, with winds becoming more southerly at ALS and more east southeast at COS and PUB. An approaching system will bring returning snow chances to all sites later today, with the higher chances not arriving until the evening. Did introduce mention of snow for all sites during this time and through the end of the period, though snow may struggle to reach ALS through 6z. PUB will likely observe light snow before the end of the period, but would expect snow to be on the lighter side with MVFR vis. COS will have the highest chances to see snow prior to 6z, and it will likely increase in intensity during the evening time frame. Have the lowest vis in this snow at COS as most guidance showing quickly developing snow during this time. Could easily see vis fall below 1sm before the end of the period, but will let later forecasts address this. VFR ceilings return later today with a downward trend expected into the afternoon. Ceilings will likely quickly fall into the evening with the arrival of the snow, with MVFR ceilings appearing likely. Can't rule out IFR ceilings, mainly at COS where development will be the strongest. && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory from 8 PM Tuesday to 6 AM MST Thursday for COZ089-093>099. Winter Weather Advisory from 5 PM Tuesday to midnight MST Wednesday night for COZ058-060-063-069>071-076>078-081>088. Winter Storm Warning from 2 PM Tuesday to midnight MST Wednesday night for COZ065>068-072>075-079-080. && SHORT TERM...MOORE LONG TERM...SIMCOE AVIATION...RODRIGUEZ
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 510 AM MST Mon Jan 31 2022 COZ058>089-093>099-011215- 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- 510 AM MST Mon Jan 31 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Spotty, critical fire weather conditions are expected this afternoon, mainly over Fremont, Pueblo, Fremont and Baca Counties. Humidity values are expected to fall below 15 percent, with gusty winds near 25 mph over these areas. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday An arctic air mass will move into the region Monday night and will last until Friday This system will bring in unseasonably cold air, along with widespread moderate to locally heavy snowfall, across the entire region. The heaviest snow is expected to occur from late Tuesday afternoon and last into late Wednesday. The highest impacts are expected to occur all day Wednesday when the heaviest snow is expected to occur across the large population centers in southern Colorado. Travel over the entire region on Wednesday will be difficult. Over the mountains, especially the eastern mountains and southwest mountains, a foot or two of snow is expected, and travel will become difficult starting Tuesday night lasting into Thursday. The San Luis Valley may also see significant accumulations of snow. The coldest temperatures will occur Thursday morning, as temperatures are expected to drop to zero degrees fahrenheit or colder over the entire region. Special Note for the San Luis Valley: If skies clear Wednesday night and the valley floor receives fresh snow cover, very cold temperatures may occur Thursday morning, with readings 20 to 30 degrees below zero. If clouds should linger, then the temperatures will likely not get as cold. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather spotters will not be needed today or tonight. 88/Hodanish
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy snow, over 16 inches fell in the past 24-hours.
Nearly a foot of snow.
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, February 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: 1009349, 1009417.