A suspected microburst tore through Greeley on Saturday afternoon, snapping power lines, splitting trees, and igniting a grassland fire that forced authorities to shut down one of Northern Colorado’s busiest highway interchanges. By the time the wind settled, more than 3,100 customers were without power and fire crews were working a small blaze burning dangerously close to the roadway.
The National Weather Service told CBS Colorado that at least three separate outflow boundaries moved through the Greeley area within roughly a two-hour window Saturday, each one pushing a fresh pulse of turbulent wind across the region. A microburst, by definition, is a concentrated burst of sinking air that descends from a thunderstorm and slams into the ground, producing strong and sometimes damaging winds across a relatively small area, according to the outlet’s report. Investigators believe one of those bursts is what knocked down and snapped multiple power lines while also breaking trees and branches across the city.
Wind gusts recorded at the Greeley airport ranged from 25 to 40 mph during several stretches Saturday afternoon, but CBS Colorado meteorologist Joe Ruch said some isolated gusts were likely stronger than that range suggests. The station’s report notes that Xcel Energy’s outage map showed 19 separate outages scattered around the Greeley area, with the utility estimating that power would be restored by 3:45 p.m.
Grass Fire Shuts Down Spaghetti Junction
The downed lines set off a grassland fire near the interchange of U.S. 85 and U.S. 34, an intersection known locally as Spaghetti Junction because it links Greeley, Evans, and Garden City and carries an average of 34,000 vehicles a day, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Traffic cameras operated by the agency showed a burn scar along U.S. 85 near the U.S. 34 junction, per the same account from CBS Colorado, while photos from the scene appeared to show significant smoke and a small fire burning in the nearby grass…