Winter Weather — Grand Valley, Colorado

2024-03-02 to 2024-03-03 · Grand Valley, Colorado

Event narrative

Generally 3 to 6 inches of snow fell across the area with 6.1 inches of snow reported at Fruita 1.5 SSE. Wind gusts were in the 15 to 25 mph range on average during the snow with peak wind gusts in the 45 to 64 mph range just prior to the onset of snow.

Wider weather episode

Very strong winds occurred ahead of a strong colf front that resulted in a high wind event and snow levels dropping to all valley floors after frontal passage. Signficant moisture supplied by an Atmospheric River fueled this storm system as it dropped in from the Intermountain West and brought feet of snow across the northern and central mountains of northeast Utah and western Colorado, with much less across southwest Colorado. Some lower northern and central valleys of western Colorado also saw significant snow with near white out conditions and banded snowfall or squall conditions at times. Winds continued to be strong throughout this event with gusts in the 40 to 50 mph range in the valleys and 60 to 80 mph range in the mountains on average.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1169845. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.