A strong low pressure system oriented the upper level jet streak to be from the southwest to northeast with magnitudes around 130 knots. This meteorological set-up is commonly associated with strong winds at the surface.
Every event with a place to put it; 10 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 strong low pressure system oriented the upper level jet streak to be from the southwest to northeast with magnitudes around 130 knots. This meteorological set-up is commonly associated with strong winds at the surface.
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 Apr 6, 4:49 AM MST, 2 hours 11 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED National Weather Service Pueblo CO 549 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Damaging winds possible across the Mountains and I-25 corridor late this afternoon through early tomorrow morning. Worst winds expected overnight. - Extreme fire weather conditions expected this afternoon through early evening across portions of the plains. Blowing dust will also be possible. Critical Fire Weather conditions return Sunday. - Blowing snow, heavy at times, will continue across higher terrain. Snow squalls may occur early this morning over southeastern mountains and possibly Pikes Peak Region/Rampart Range, and Palmer Divide. - Next storm system will bring more precipitation to southern CO Tuesday though a more southerly storm track has trended amounts down. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Issued at 356 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024 Today... A look at the current radar imagery shows and band of more moderate snow showers moving over the southeastern mountains, although the rain-shadow effect is causing them to dissipate as they move over the adjacent plains, and this will likely be the case throughout the day as southeast Colorado looks to be dry slotted quite a bit in the mid levels between 700-500 mb with more of the moisture advection occurring further to the north. A very dynamic major shortwave trough continues to advance towards the region today. A bora front associated this system will continue to move through the eastern half of the high terrain early this morning, and provide the possibility of some convective showers and even a few snow squalls, given the amount of forcing along the boundary. The best location looks to be over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, although there may also be a possible snow squall develop over the Pikes Peak Region/Rampart Range and/or Palmer Divide right around daybreak. Surface winds have been very strong and gusty out of the southwest and these will shift to out of the west after passage of the front. On the backside of the low, winds will continue to increase out of the west over the plains. These downsloping winds will continue to dry out and adiabatically warm up the lower levels, even with a cooler air mass in place behind the front. Therefore, conditions will once again be favorable for rapid fire growth and spread over a majority of the plains by later this afternoon and through the early evening hours before RH values recover back above the critical threshold. Areas of blowing dust will also be possible. Moreover, with the strength of these winds and occasional gusts of 70 mph or greater, this would constitute extreme fire weather conditions at times. It is imperative to avoid any activities which could cause a spark with these conditions in place later today! By later this afternoon through early evening, there is going to be a mountain wave establishing itself, which has been showing up as a very strong signal on vertical cross sections across the PPR/Rampart Range area, especially by 6 PM. The only caveat is that the wave-induced critical layer does not occur until later and is closer to the 500 mb level, vs the 400 mb level. Also, that the inversion does not appear to be well-pronounced until later in the evening, which does make sense given the amount of mixing that is still occuring just before sunset. Despite this, there is a strong indication that this will produce very strong and gusty winds right along the mountain/plains interface, mainly the Air Force Academy/Monument Hill area. Having said this, some wind gusts may approach 90 mph for leeward side (eastern facing slopes) of the Rampart Range. If traveling on north to south oriented road, be advised that severe crosswinds may occur, especially for high-profile vehicles along portions of the northern I-25 corridor. Even though there is a colder air mass moving in and temperatures will be notably cooler today than they were yesterday, the compressing and adiabatically warming winds will allow for temperatures over the lower elevations to remain warm enough that any precip should be in the form of rain, although if there is a heavier and more convective shower or snow squall occur over the Palmer Divide area, this could produce a quick burst of heavy and accumulation of snow (although given the recent warm temperatures, roads conditions might still be okay). Highs will max out in the upper 50s to mid 60s over the plains, with generally 20s and 30s across the higher terrain, except 40s in the valleys, and teens for highest peaks. Tonight... The cross sections allude to a more strong signature for a mountain wave event by later in the evening as a near-mountain top inversion becomes more evident and reverse shear looks better between the 400- 500 mb level for the PPR/Ramparts after around 9 PM, which increases confidence that there could be very strong and damaging winds right along the mountain/plains interface with severe crosswinds at times for north/south oriented. The most likely locations remain to be over El Paso County, although there is some of the these signals showing up further to the south for the Wets and southern Sangres, even though it becomes more forward shear dominant the further south you go. Still, there may be some very strong and damaging winds possible over portions of the southern I-25 corridor as well. This looks to continue throughout most of the night. On the other hand, snow across the higher terrain will be winding down, as the surface low continues to move further up towards the NE. There could still be some wrap-around showers over portions of our northeastern plains (mainly Kiowa County) early in the evening. Most of the snow will be more confined to the central mountains by later in the evening and then taper off more going into the early morning tomorrow. -Stewey && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... Issued at 356 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024 Mountain wave parameters break down Sunday morning as atmosphere becomes more unstable, and high winds are expected to come to an end by noon. It will still be windy and dry through the afternoon, and with critically low relative humidities still in place, have hoisted Fire Weather Watches for most of the southeast plains through early evening. Could still see localized gusts to around 75 mph in the lee of the southeast mountains through mid morning. Some isolated snow showers will be possible across the central mountains, but the remainder of the area will be dry. Next upper low will be dropping southward into the Desert SW on Monday. A cold front will push through southeast CO Sat night with a broad upglide pattern setting up through the day on Monday as the upper low gradually approaches and low levels slowly moisten. We start to see an uptick in rain and mountain snow showers Monday afternoon with some instability, but greater chances for precipitation will spread in Monday night through Tuesday as the upper low tracks across southern NM, and the northern stream trough sends a reinforcing easterly push into southeast CO. Overall the signal for heavier snow has decreased with a trend towards a more southern storm track. Will continue to monitor. Otherwise, that system will move out with drier and warmer conditions returning late week. -KT && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SUNDAY/... Issued at 356 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024 VFR conditions are expected to prevail for all TAF sites (KALS, KCOS, and KPUB) throughout the forecast period. WSCONDS are currently ongoing for KALS due to lighter winds at the moment near the surface, although this is expected to end by 14Z as surface winds increase again. Winds will be synoptically influenced with the low pressure system moving through, and very strong and gusty out of the SW to NW at all terminals, possibly exceeding 50 kts at times during the daytime hours today. Because of this, there could be BLDU, which could temporarily reduce VIS to IFR or possibly LIFR criteria this afternoon and through the early evening. With VCSH this morning, if SHSN at KALS, or SHRA at KCOS or KPUB occurs, it could temporarily reduce VIS down to IFR conditions due to precip, however CIGs will likely remain high enough to not be a concern. There is higher confidence of this occurring at KALS early this morning, although improving conditions with diminishing mid to upper level CIGs are anticipated at all sites towards the end of the forecast period. -Stewey && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until midnight MDT tonight for COZ058- 060. High Wind Warning from 8 AM this morning to 11 AM MDT Sunday for COZ060>063-069-072>088. Winter Weather Advisory until 6 PM MDT this evening for COZ066- 068. High Wind Warning from 8 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for COZ070-071. Winter Weather Advisory until noon MDT today for COZ073-075. Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for COZ227>237. Fire Weather Watch from Sunday morning through Sunday evening for COZ227>237. && SHORT TERM...STEWARD LONG TERM...KT AVIATION...HODANISH/STEWARD
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 551 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024 COZ058>089-093>099-071200- 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- 551 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Damaging winds will be possible across portions of the I-25 corridor late this afternoon through early tomorrow morning. Worst winds are expected later this evening and overnight. There may be severe crosswinds at times for vehicles traveling on north to south oriented roads, especially for high-profile vehicles traveling on the I-25 corridor in northern El Paso County. Extreme fire weather conditions are expected this afternoon through early evening across much of the plains with very strong and gusty winds and blowing dust at times. Blowing snow, heavy at times, will continue across higher terrain. Snow squalls may occur early this morning over southeastern mountains and possibly Pikes Peak Region and Rampart Range, as well as the Palmer Divide. Highest snowfall amounts will be over the eastern San Juan Mountains and the Sawatch Range, where there could be as much as 8 inches of additional snow through tonight. Otherwise, lesser amounts are expected for the Sangre de Cristos of 2 to 4 inches. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday Damaging winds will continue Sunday morning across the mountains and adjacent lower elevations. Critical Fire Weather conditions will return for most of the southeast plains Sunday morning through Sunday evening as humidities drop below 15% and winds remain gusty through the afternoon. Avoid activities which could start a wildfire. Another storm system will bring a chance of rain and snow showers to the region Monday night through Tuesday night. Light to moderate snowfall accumulations will be possible for the mountains. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather conditions that meet reporting criteria for spotters will be likely over portions of the region. STEWARD/31
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pueblo CO
254 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0241 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 S Alamosa 37.43N 105.87W
04/06/2024 M60 MPH Alamosa CO ASOS
ASOS station KALS Alamosa Airport.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pueblo CO
419 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0355 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 5 N Walsenburg 37.69N 104.79W
04/06/2024 M56 MPH Huerfano CO AWOS
AWOS station K4V1 4 N Walsenburg.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pueblo CO
427 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0420 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 NE Colorado City 37.95N 104.84W
04/06/2024 M64 MPH Pueblo CO Mesonet
Mesonet station CW4784 Colorado City.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pueblo CO
523 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0458 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 5 ESE Wetmore 38.21N 105.00W
04/06/2024 M70 MPH Pueblo CO Mesonet
Mesonet station RDDC2 Red Creek.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pueblo CO
654 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0419 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 6 S Colorado City 37.86N 104.83W
04/06/2024 M62 MPH Huerfano CO Mesonet
Mesonet station CO029 025s066 Apache City.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report...Summary
National Weather Service Pueblo CO
757 AM MDT Sat Apr 6 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0420 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 NE Colorado City 37.95N 104.84W
04/06/2024 M64 MPH Pueblo CO Mesonet
Mesonet station CW4784 Colorado City.
0458 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 5 ESE Wetmore 38.21N 105.00W
04/06/2024 M70 MPH Pueblo CO Mesonet
Mesonet station RDDC2 Red Creek.
0355 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 5 N Walsenburg 37.69N 104.79W
04/06/2024 M56 MPH Huerfano CO AWOS
AWOS station K4V1 4 N Walsenburg.
0419 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 6 S Colorado City 37.86N 104.83W
04/06/2024 M62 MPH Huerfano CO Mesonet
Mesonet station CO029 025s066 Apache City.
0114 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 S Alamosa 37.43N 105.87W
04/06/2024 M52 MPH Alamosa CO ASOS
ASOS station KALS Alamosa Airport.
0241 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 S Alamosa 37.43N 105.87W
04/06/2024 M60 MPH Alamosa CO ASOS
ASOS station KALS Alamosa Airport.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
10 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2024
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: 1177489, 1177490, 1177492, 1177493, 1177494, 1177495, 1177497, 1177498, 1177500, 1177501.