{"id":3198,"date":"2025-12-25T06:01:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T13:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/?p=3198"},"modified":"2025-12-26T05:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T12:38:18","slug":"looking-back-at-an-unforgettable-holiday-denvers-christmas-eve-blizzard-of-1982","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/thornton-weather\/looking-back-at-an-unforgettable-holiday-denvers-christmas-eve-blizzard-of-1982\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking back at an unforgettable holiday – Denver’s Christmas Eve Blizzard of 1982"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cars
Cars are buried under the heavy snow in Denver. Scroll down for a photo slideshow with more images. (Denver Public Library Digital Collection)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Christmas approaches everyone reflects on the past and for longtime Denver residents that oftentimes means remembering one of the most significant winter storms in the Mile High City\u2019s history – the Christmas Eve Blizzard of 1982.\u00a0 This major winter storm has become the one by which all others are compared not only due to its record-setting impact but also due to its timing being near Christmas.<\/p>\n

As Christmas 1982 approached, forecasters were predicting a white Christmas several days beforehand but most were expecting a moderate snowfall of 6 inches.\u00a0 Two days before Christmas Eve though, the picture began to change.\u00a0 On the 22nd a Pacific cold front came ashore in California bringing severe rain, high surf and even hurricane force winds.\u00a0 As it moved east over higher terrain, it dumped 2 feet of snow in the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

At about that same time, jet stream winds were forming a trough of low pressure over the southeastern plains of Colorado.\u00a0 The counterclockwise motion of the trough began to pull moist air into the state.\u00a0 Further east Kansas and Oklahoma experienced severe thunderstorms and even tornadoes.\u00a0 The winds set the stage for strong upslope conditions along the Front Range.<\/p>\n