Colorado storm brought more than 100 mph wind, up to 4 feet of snow in mountains

Miles Blumhardt, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Updated ·4 min read
2
The morning sun shines through trees in Windsor on Jan. 16, after three days cold and snow gripped Colorado.

The three-day storm that gripped Colorado finally moved out Tuesday — but not before leaving behind up to 4 feet of snow and more than 100 mph wind gusts in the mountains and wind chills beyond minus 30 degrees in Fort Collins.

The storm prompted school closures Tuesday for Poudre School District, CSU and other area schools and forced the cancellation of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march Monday.

In the mountains, it closed major roads and prompted avalanche warnings. An avalanche buried 10 vehicles on Berthoud Pass south of Winter Park.

Denver International Airport saw hundreds of flight cancellations and delays.

Here's a look back at the storm.

Fort Collins saw record-breaking cold with this storm

Fort Collins was forecast to actually creep near freezing (27 degrees) by Tuesday afternoon — a far cry from the night before, when the official Fort Collins reporting station on the main CSU campus recorded a low of minus 17, breaking the record by 1 degree set in 1917.

The Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland showed a wind chill of minus 37 at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Fort Collins had a high of 12 degrees and low of minus 11 on Saturday, Jan. 13, high of 9 and low of minus 5 on Sunday, Jan. 14, and high of 3 and low of minus 9 on Monday, Jan. 15, according to official city weather station.

The city also recorded 3.4 inches of snow during those days.

A weather station near Cameron Pass in western Larimer County reported 30 inches and a reporting station near Red Feather Lakes reported 10.5 inches.

Coldest temperatures reported around Northern Colorado

According to the National Weather Service, here are some of the coldest ambient, not wind chill, readings from Monday night:

  • Near Briggsdale (Weld County): Minus 36

  • Near Wiggins: Minus 31

  • Near Akron: Minus 30

  • Greeley: Minus 29

  • Near Sterling: Minus 29

  • Fort Morgan: Minus 27

  • Loveland: Minus 20

  • Fort Collins: Minus 17

Look at these impressive Colorado mountain snowfall totals

Here are snowfall totals from Jan. 12-15, according to the National Weather Service:

  • Mount Zirkel (4 miles southeast): 51 inches

  • Rabbit Ears Pass (1 mile northeast): 49.5 inches

  • Winter Park (5 mils west-southwest): 45 inches

  • Mount Audubon (3 miles north-northeast): 42 inches

  • Loveland Pass (1 mile south-southeast): 39 inches

  • Berthoud Pass: 36 inches

  • Bear Lake (Rocky Mountain National Park): 36 inches

  • Eldora (1 mile west-southwest): 34.5 inches

  • Cameron Pass: (7 miles south-southeast): 30 inches

  • Longs Peak (4 miles south): 30 inches

  • Copper Mountain: 24 inches

  • Pingree Park ( 3 miles west-northwest): 21 inches

  • Cameron Pass (1 mile north-northwest): 18 inches

Colorado ski areas report up to 4 feet of snow over last week

Here's a look at how some ski areas fared for snowfall over the last seven days:

  • Crested Butte: 48 inches

  • Vail Mountain: 37 inches

  • Breckenridge: 36 inches

  • Beaver Creek: 32 inches

  • Keystone Resort: 29 inches

National Weather Service reports several readings of wind blasting more than 100 mph in Colorado mountains

Most of these reports are from above 10,500 feet:

  • Copper Mountain (3 east-southeast): 119 mph

  • Berthoud Pass (3 miles north): 112 mph

  • Breckenridge (3 miles southwest): 107 mph

  • Loveland Pass (1 mile northwest ): 76 mph

  • Brainard Lake (1 mile southwest): 65 mph

Fort Collins weather forecast for this week is bumpy

  • Tuesday, Jan. 16: Mostly sunny, with a high near 27 and wind chill values as low as minus 20. Low around 11 degrees.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 17: 20% chance of snow after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 41. Low around 17.

  • Thursday, Jan. 18: 40% chance of snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 42, breezy with northwest wind 13 to 18 mph in the afternoon, gusting to as high as 40 mph. Low around 1 degree.

  • Friday, Jan. 19: Partly sunny, with a high near 27 and low around 8.

  • Saturday, Jan. 20: Partly sunny, with a high near 41 and low around 23.

  • Sunday, Jan. 21: Partly sunny, with a high near 50 and low around 26.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: How much snow, wind and cold did Colorado get over the weekend?