Increasing mid and upper level flow across the mountains helped increase winds over parts of southern Colorado during this time. This was observed the most lee of the mountains where isolated wind gusts to around 60 mph were observed.
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The episode as NWS PUB wrote it up.
Increasing mid and upper level flow across the mountains helped increase winds over parts of southern Colorado during this time. This was observed the most lee of the mountains where isolated wind gusts to around 60 mph were observed.
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 14, 10:26 PM MST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 1126 PM MDT Tue Mar 14 2023 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 245 PM MDT Tue Mar 14 2023 Key Messages: 1) Snow starts along the Continental Divide after midnight, and becomes heavy at times during the day on Wed. 2) Breezy and very warm on the plains Wed, with increasing fire danger in the afternoon. Upper trough pushes onshore across California tonight, then through the Great Basin on Wed. Snow should reach the Continental Divide early Wed morning, though heavier snowfall may hold off until later in the day as western upper trough deepens in response to strong upper jet moving into the desert sw. Kept current set of winter highlights unchanged for now, and expect travel to become difficult Wed over high mountain passes (i.e. Wolf Creek, Cumbres, Monarch, Fremont) with periods of heavy snow and blowing snow likely. Some snow showers will spread east across interior valleys toward the eastern mountains during the day Wed, though not expecting any impacts here as heaviest snow should remain back over the higher terrain along the Divide. Some concern about strong winds in the lee of the Sangre/Wets overnight into Wed morning as short-lived mountain wave sets-up and mountain top winds increase toward 50 kts, though wave breaks down quickly after 12z as forward shear develops. At this point, area looks too small/time too brief for a highlight, though will some gusts in the 55-65 mph range look possible in the lee of the southern Sangres Wed morning. On the plains Wed, lee cyclogenesis will lead to breezy/windy conditions in spots, especially in gap flow favored locations in the Arkansas Valley and downstream of La Veta Pass through Walsenburg. Deep mixing will lead to very warm max temps, but will also drop humidity toward 15 percent for a few hours in the afternoon, increasing the fire danger along and east of I-25. Thought about a fire weather highlight for the area, but dewpoints don't appear to fall low enough for long enough to warrant issuance at this point, though we may get close in windier spots near Walsenburg and around Fort Carson. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Tuesday) Issued at 245 PM MDT Tue Mar 14 2023 Key Messages: 1) A cooler and more active pattern continues through the weekend and into the beginning of next week. 2) Winter Weather highlights remain in place for the Continental Divide region, with rain changing to snow expected for much of Thursday on our plains. Wednesday night and Thursday.. For the plains.. High res model guidance shows decent agreement that a cold frontal boundary will make its way through our forecast area between sunset tomorrow evening and midnight tomorrow night. For many locations, this will mean that the daytime high temperature for Thursday could occur at midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Precipitation chances push off the terrain through the evening hours, beginning as rain and eventually changing over to snow. Current thinking is that this changeover will happen after midnight for much of El Paso county, but model soundings show a potential for a rain/snow mix and a longer transition period for the rest of the plains. This could mean some very messy road conditions for the morning commute on both I-25 and highway 50 as well. Everything looks to be cool enough for snow by around 10am at the latest, with off and on chances for snow showers continuing throughout most of Thursday. Northerly winds behind the frontal boundary look to be gusty through the early morning hours of Thursday as well, especially through El Paso and Kiowa counties, where winds could gust up to 40 mph. This could lead to poor visibility with blowing snow for the Thursday morning commute. For the high country.. Snowfall rates will be moderate to heavy at times, especially for portions of our central mountains, the La Garitas, and the San Juans, where Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories remain in place until Thursday night. Moderate to heavy snowfall rates are also expected for the Sangres and the Wet Mountains, where a Winter Storm Watch remains in effect from Wednesday night until Friday morning. Heaviest snowfall rates for this area look to exist from about 6am to noon on Thursday, so have held off on upgrading the watch for this forecast package. Advisories could also need to be added later for lower elevations as well, especially for Fremont and Huerfano counties and the Wet Mountain valley, but have held off for now as confidence in expected snowfall totals remains low. Friday Onwards.. The trough axis pushes off to our east by early Friday, slowly bringing snow showers to an end for most locations. We'll see a nice lull in precip for most of the area, with the exception of our southern Sangres and the San Juans, where shortwave energy looks to keep light snow through the day on Friday and into Saturday. For the rest of us, strong northwesterly flow aloft will help to keep daytime highs about 10 to 15 degrees cooler than normal for Friday afternoon. Clearing sky conditions and weaker winds will help, but overall the cool trend continues into Saturday and Sunday. Daytime highs stay in the forties for most of the plains on Saturday, with increasing cloud cover as our next wave arrives late Saturday and into Sunday. This next wave will bring another round of snow showers to the Continental Divide region, along with continued below normal temperatures for the plains through the beginning of next week. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Wednesday night) Issued at 1118 PM MDT Tue Mar 14 2023 VFR conditions are near certain at KCOS and KPUB during this forecast period. Light winds will occur at the two taf sites during the early morning hours becoming breezy from the south- southwest tomorrow afternoon. A lee trough will come across tomorrow night. A strong cold front will cross these two taf sites shortly AFTER the end of this fcst period (~07-08 UTC 16 March). KALS will see increasing clouds and increasing precip chances from tomorrow afternoon through tomorrow night. Rain/Snow chances will be on the increase. Some light accumulations will be possible. A better chance of snow will develop Thursday morning with impactful snow amounts. && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until 6 PM MDT Thursday for COZ058-059- 061. Winter Storm Warning until 6 PM MDT Thursday for COZ060. Winter Weather Advisory until midnight MDT Thursday night for COZ066. Winter Storm Warning until midnight MDT Thursday night for COZ068. Winter Storm Watch from Wednesday evening through late Thursday night for COZ072>075-079-080. && SHORT TERM...PETERSEN LONG TERM...EHR AVIATION...HODANISH
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 442 AM MDT Tue Mar 14 2023 COZ058>089-093>099-151045- 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- 442 AM MDT Tue Mar 14 2023 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Isolated to scattered snow showers will begin over the southwest and central mountains tonight. Meanwhile, winds will increase over the eastern plains, and periods of near-critical fire weather conditions will be possible until humidity values increase towards the early morning hours. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday Heavy snow will spread into the Continental Divide on Wednesday and continue through Thursday. The heaviest snow will fall across the Eastern San Juan mountains where 1 to 2 feet of snow will be possible through Thursday. Lesser amounts of 8 to 16 inches will be possible across the eastern Sawatch range with 5 to 12 inches possible across the La Garita mountains and central and eastern Lake county. Snow will spread into the Sangre De Cristo mountains and Wet mountains Wednesday night and continue into Thursday. A sustained period of moderate to briefly heavy snow may bring some moderate to heavy accumulations across the east slopes of the Wets and Sangre De Cristo mountains. The heaviest snow is most likely across the southern Sangre De Cristos where accumulations of 6 inches to a little over a foot will be possible. Lighter amounts of 3 to 8 inches will be possible across the remainder of the valleys and mountains with a slushy inch or two possible on grassy surfaces across the plains. The snow will wind down Thursday night. Unsettled weather will continue for Friday through early next week with periods of mountain snow showers bringing additional light to moderate accumulations at times. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather conditions that meet reporting criteria for spotters will be likely over the Continental Divide late tonight. GARBEROGLIO/31
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Apache City.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, March 2023
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: 1090018.