High Wind in Larimer & Boulder Counties Between 6000 & 9000 Feet, Colorado

Strongest wind gust reached 95 mph at NCAR Mesa Lab at 0155 MST (4-7). Additional high wind reports: 93 & 91 mph 3 ESE Buckeye, 89 mph 3 S Boulder, 88 mph 1 NE Crisman, 74 mph Virginia Dale. Photo of powerlines blown over at the base of Lefthand Canyon and Nelson Road. Approximately 6000 feet MSL, the zone border.

An intense storm system moved across northeast Colorado on April 6th and then moved northeast into central Nebraska on April 7th. Strong and damaging winds occurred over portions of the mountains, foothills and northeast plains, from April 6th through April 7th, as the system moved across. Wind gusts across the mountains and along and near the foothills ranged from 70 to 95 mph with a peak gust of 97 mph at the NCAR Mesa Lab. Across the northeast plains, the strongest winds were focused along and north of a line from Denver to Fort Morgan to Akron. Winds gusts from 60 to 80 mph were common.

There were several reports of downed trees, power poles and other minor damage where the highest winds occurred. Up to 150,000 customers lost power during the peak of the event. Most of these outages were in and around the Denver area. More than 600 miles of lines were proactively de-energized by XCEL energy. (This is first time XCEL has done this).

Colorado State Patrol was notified of 10 toppled semi trucks throughout Colorado during the wind storm, most were on the Interstate 25 corridor and on Interstate 70. Numerous small fires were start due to blown over powerlines, including one house fire in Denver where powerlines fell on a home.