Strong winds were reported in the northeast plains of Colorado. A trained spotter at Hereford recorded a peak wind gust of 67 mph (58 kts), with a peak gust of 63 mph (55 kts) at Akron.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
Strong winds were reported in the northeast plains of Colorado. A trained spotter at Hereford recorded a peak wind gust of 67 mph (58 kts), with a peak gust of 63 mph (55 kts) at Akron.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 23, 2:55 PM MST, 6 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 255 PM MST FRI DEC 23 2005 .SHORT TERM...STRONG NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. AIRMASS HAS BECOME SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON ANDAIDED IN WINDS MIXING TO THE SURFACE. REPORTS FROM AVALANCHE FOLKS OF GUSTY WINDS ALONG WITH BLOWING SNOW ACROSS THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS WITH A FEW AREAS CLOSE TO HIGH WIND CRITERIA. LATEST MODEL RUNS SHOW WINDS OF 40 KNOTS PERSISTING AT MOUNTAIN TOP OVERNIGHT ...BUT ONLY A MINOR STABLE LAYER. ONLY THE MM5 INDICATES 60 KTS. LOCAL SANGSTER FORECAST OUTPUT SHOW LOW PROBABILITY OF WINDS REACHING HIGH WIND CRITERIA. WILL NOT ISSUE HIGH WIND WATCH AT THIS TIME DUE TO LACK OF DECENT STABLE LAYER BUT WILL HIT GUSTS A BIT HARDER. STILL SOME MOISTURE OVERNIGHT...WILL KEEP THE LOW POPS GIVEN THE WINDS. ACROSS THE PLAINS...WINDS REMAIN GUSTY...BUT BELOW HIGH WIND CRITERIA. ONE GUST FROM AKRON WHICH REACHED 62 MPH...AIDED BY A QUICK PASSING SHOWER. THE SHOWER HAS SINCE MOVED TO THE SOUTHEAST AND GUSTS DECREASED. TIGHT SURFACE GRADIENT SEEMS TO HAVE RELAXED A BIT... WHICH IS REFLECTED IN THE MOST OF THE OBS. LATEST MODELS STILL INDICATE WINDS OF 40KTS ACROSS THE FAR NORTHEAST PLAINS OVERNIGHT... WILL NEED TO KEEP WINDS GOING THERE. RADAR SHOWING WHATS LEFT THE SHOWER ACTIVITY MOVING QUICKY TO THE SOUTHEAST AND SHOULD BE OUT OF THE AREA BY FORECAST ISSUANCE. ON SATURDAY...MODELS SHOW NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT DECREASING A BIT AS UPPER TROUGH OVER CENTRAL PLAINS MOVES EAST. WILL REMAIN GUSTY OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS...BUT NOT ANTICIPATING SPEEDS AS HIGH AS WHAT OCCURRED THIS AFTERNOON. ACROSS PLAINS...SURFACE GRADIENT REMAINS FAIRLY TIGHT NEAR THE EASTERN BORDER DURING THE MORNING...THEN RELAXES BY 00Z SUNDAY MODELS INDICATE 40KTS 850 MB THROUGH 18Z...THEN DROPS TO 20 KTS DURING THE AFTERNOON. CURRENT FORECAST SHOWS THIS TREND NICELY. WILL MAKE A FEW ADJUSTMENT TO THE WIND GRIDS IN THE AM. 7H TEMPERATURES WARM TO -4 DEGREES CELSIUS BY 00Z SUNDAY...WHICH EQUATES TO HIGHS IN THE 50S ACROSS PLAINS. NO NEED TO ADJUST TEMPERATURE GRIDS. .LONG TERM DISCUSSION...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT SHIFTING OVER COLORADO BY SUNDAY. A BIT OF MID-HI LVL MSTR SPILLING OVER THE RIDGE ON SAT NITE THEN CLEARING SKIES. DRY CONDITIONS SUN-MON IN THE VICINITY OF THE RIDGE WITH THE WARMEST DAY EXPECTED ON CHRISTMAS. JUST DOESNT SEEM RIGHT THAT WE WILL BE APPROACHING RECORD HIGH TEMPS ON CHRISTMAS. RECORD HIGH ON DENVER IS 66 DEGREES AND LOOKS LIKE IT MAY BE CLOSE AS 700MB TEMPS CLIMBING TO AROUND +6C. THERE WILL CERTAINLY BE NO WHITE CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR ON THE PLAINS. THE NEXT SYSTEM RAPIDLY MOVES INLAND FROM THE EASTERN PACIFIC ON MONDAY WHICH WILL EFFECT CO WX ON MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. THE GENERAL TIMING HAS BEGUN TO BE MORE CONSITENT AMONST THE LONG RANGE MODELS AND LAST FEW RUNS HAVE SHOW ENOUGH AMPLIFICATION EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS TO INCLUDE A THREAT OF PRECIP ACROSS ERN CO. WILL START OFF WITH ISOLD POPS FOR NOW AND COOLER TEMPS ON THE PLAINS. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && D-L/SWE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1053 AM MST FRI DEC 23 2005 COZ030>051-241300- JACKSON COUNTY BELOW 9000 FEET-WEST JACKSON AND WEST GRAND COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-GRAND AND SUMMIT COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND EAST JACKSON/LARIMER/NORTH AND NORTHEAST GRAND/ NORTHWEST BOULDER COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST GRAND/WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST BOULDER/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/ SUMMIT/NORTH AND WEST PARK COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-LARIMER AND BOULDER COUNTIES BETWEEN 6000 AND 9000 FEET-JEFFERSON AND WEST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/NORTHEAST PARK COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PARK COUNTY-LARIMER COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY-BOULDER AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES BELOW 6000 FEET/WEST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES/ EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-ELBERT/CENTRAL AND EAST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET-NORTHEAST WELD COUNTY-CENTRAL AND SOUTH WELD COUNTY-MORGAN COUNTY-CENTRAL AND EAST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES- NORTH AND NORTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTH LINCOLN COUNTY-SOUTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY-LOGAN COUNTY-WASHINGTON COUNTY-SEDGWICK COUNTY-PHILLIPS COUNTY- 1053 AM MST FRI DEC 23 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS ALOFT WILL CONTINUE ACROSS NORTHERN COLORADO TODAY. AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW WILL PERSIST ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE DAY...WITH AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 3 INCHES EXPECTED. THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO END LATE TONIGHT. NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 65 MPH WILL CONTINUE OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS. ACROSS THE PLAINS...NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 30 MPH WITH CAN BE EXPECTED...WITH GUSTS TO 50 MPH POSSIBLE. THE WINDS WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 35 MPH WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE OVER THE NORTHEAST PLAINS DURING THE DAY ON SATURDAY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE REGION THROUGH MONDAY WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THE NEXT DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS COLORADO MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW AND COOLER TEMPERATURES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. DL/SWE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, December 2005
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5482659, 5482660.