As promised in the National Weather Service forecast, conditions were extremely gusty along parts of Colorado’s Front Range last night. While ‘high wind warnings’ published prior to the hazardous conditions warned of gusts up to 80 miles per hour, wind speeds far exceeded that threshold.
According to a report from the National Weather Service , wind speeds of 102 miles per hour were recorded in the area of Boulder County’s 1 West Wall Street. This is located in Fourmile Canyon, about six miles west of the City of Boulder. For the sake of comparison, sustained wind speeds of a Category Two hurricane fall between 96 and 110 miles per hour. Meanwhile, wind speeds of an F-1 tornado range from 73 to 112 miles per hour.
Winds peaked in this area between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., impacting Boulder County, as well as Jefferson, Gilpin, Larimer, and Clear Creek counties, with several other recordings capturing wind speeds that were above the predicted 80 miles per hour. As a result of these wind storms, around 5,000 households lost power in Clear Creek and Gilpin counties.