High Wind — Yuma County, Colorado

2022-12-02 · Yuma County, Colorado

Event narrative

Measured gust 1 mile west of Joes, Colorado of 59 knots. There were numerous other reports of winds above 50 kts in Yuma county during this event, but the 59 knot gust was the highest.

Wider weather episode

In the latter half of the morning on December 2nd, strong, dry southwesterly winds began picking up dirt and dust in Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas. This led to areas of reduced visibility due to the blowing dust across Eastern Colorado, Western Kansas, and extreme Southwest Nebraska. A strong cold front entered the East Central Colorado around 11 AM and quickly moved southeast. Before this cold front entered into the Tri-State area, it was already collecting dust along its leading edge, forming a wall of dust resembling a haboob. As this cold front swept through the area, it gathered more dust and grew in severity and longevity. Many photos and videos showing a wall of dust a few hundred feet high were sent to the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Goodland, Kansas. When the wall of dust moved over an area, visibility would drop to near or less than 0.25 mile with wind gusts near 70 mile per hour. Strong northwesterly winds and 0.25-mile visibility behind the initial wall of dust would continue for an hour or longer before subsiding.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1069901. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.