High Wind — Eastern Adams and Eastern Arapahoe Counties, Colorado

1999-04-08 · Eastern Adams and Eastern Arapahoe Counties, Colorado

Wider weather episode

Another damaging windstorm ravaged much of northeast Colorado to the tune of $7.2 million, making it the third costliest storm to strike the region. Most of the damage to homes ($4.35 million) consisted of broken fences, awnings, doors and windows. In one instance, a home under construction in Fort Collins was blown down by the strong winds. Scores of automobiles ($2.85 million) suffered broken or cracked windshields and paint damage from flying debris. Crop damage was also incurred as budding crops were blown away in the windstorm.Multiple accidents were triggered as several tractor-trailer rigs were blown on their sides by strong cross-winds. Blowing dust and dirt caused near zero visibilities at times. As a result, sections of Interstate 25, from Denver to the Wyoming State line, Interstate 76, from Denver to the Nebraska State line and State Highway 93, between Golden and Boulder, were closed until the winds safely subsided. Several trees, power poles and power lines were downed causing a number of outages throughout northeast Colorado as well as sparking a few small grass fires.Peak wind gusts reached or exceeded the century mark at several locations, including 116 mph (100 kts), 4 miles northwest of Bingham Hill near Fort Collins, 112 mph (97 kts) atop Niwot Ridge, 106 mph (92 kts), 2 miles north of Estes Park, 103 mph (90 kts) at Carter Lake, 102 mph (89 kts) at Wondervu, and 100 mph (87 kts) at the NCAR Mesa Lab, in the foothills southwest of Boulder.Other peak wind reports included: 96 mph (83 kts) at the Rocky Flats Environmental Test Facility, 92 mph (80 kts) at Jefferson County Airport, 91 mph (79 kts) 4 miles south of Livermore, 90 mph (78 kts) at Allenspark, Highlands Ranch and 21 miles north of New Raymer, 87 mph (76 kts) at Merino, 85 mph (74 kts) 7 miles west of Broomfield, 82 mph (71 kts) at Golden Gate Canyon and Hereford, 80 mph (70 kts) at Broomfield, the CU Campus in Boulder, and 6 miles west-northwest of Loveland, 77 mph (67 kts) at the Akron Airport, 75 mph (65 kts), 6 miles south of Bennett, 74 mph (64 kts) at Crook and 4 miles east of Haxtun, 73 mph (64 kts) at Fort Collins, 71 mph (62 kts) at Woodrow, 70 mph (61 kts) at North Table Mountain near Golden and 15 miles west-northwest of Sterling, 65 mph (56 kts), 6 miles southeast of Wellington, 63 mph (55 kts) at Padroni, 59 mph (51 kts), 1 mile north of Strasburg and 58 mph (50 kts) at Greeley and 9 miles north of Limon.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5690563. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.