News that 2021’s Marshall fire was sent into overdrive by all-day, hurricane-force winds arrived on a 2024 Colorado weather day with 60 mph gusts in the foothills.
Front Range patio furniture is sailing into Aurora, while the lack of January snow cover is eerily similar to the extra-dry conditions that helped turn Marshall into a $2 billion disaster. The National Weather Service saved its official high wind warnings today for southern Wyoming, but Front Range dangers abound.
But none of this is that close to the worst wind day in Colorado, according to a quick check-in with the same NOAA folks who put out the new study on wildfires and winds.
Here’s a look at some of those worst days:
- In 1971, we hit 147. That’s miles per hour. Recorded by sensors on the mesa where the National Center for Atmospheric Research sits above Boulder.
- Downtown Boulder hit 130 mph with winds in 1969.
- What NOAA calls “the big one” came in January 1982. Winds reached 136 mph at NCAR by 2:30 that morning. Lyons hit 136 mph. There were 20 gusts recorded over 120 mph. While fire wasn’t a factor, the wind was bad enough, with 40% of Boulder buildings reporting damage.
- Table Mesa reached 131 mph gusts in September of 1986. If you’re seeing a pattern here, it’s because the Boulder County/Jefferson County border is indeed a funnel for downslope winds that crash onto the plains at the western Denver metro suburbs.
- And finally, if you’re looking for another January comparison, NOAA looked at their books back to 1994, on Table Mesa: a sensor on Jan. 24 reached 143 mph, the second highest wind gust ever measured there. So far.