Winter Weather — Upper Gunnison River Valley, Colorado

2024-01-13 to 2024-01-15 · Upper Gunnison River Valley, Colorado

Event narrative

Generally 7 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amount of 14 inches at Gunnison 0.2 NW. Winds gusted in the 30s towards the latter part of the event.

Wider weather episode

A moderately strong atmospheric river coming in from the west in conjunction with a low pressure system dropping southward out of the Pacific Northwest tracked along a strong northwest to southeast oriented jet. This led to significant snowfall across all mountain ranges of western Colorado with lesser amounts across the La Sals in southeast Utah. Some lower northwest and west-central higher valleys even saw moderate snowfall. Strong winds in the higher elevations continued to bring blowing and drifting snow as well as whiteout conditions and road closures to most mountain passes. A strong arctic front dropped in from the north late in the storms period, leading to some of the whiteout concerns and bringing continued snow in the Uncompahgre Gorge and north facing slopes. Snowfall was limited in the lower valleys due to cold arctic air being scoured out from the winds leading up to this system.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1162120. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.