Very strong Chinook winds blasted areas in and near the Front Range Foothills of Larimer, Boulder and Jefferson Counties. The wind blew down trees and power poles, downed electrical lines and fences, and damaged homes and vehicles.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Very strong Chinook winds blasted areas in and near the Front Range Foothills of Larimer, Boulder and Jefferson Counties. The wind blew down trees and power poles, downed electrical lines and fences, and damaged homes and vehicles. Scattered power outages were reported all along the Front Range. In Metropolitan Denver alone, 24,000 Xcel customers were affected by the outages. Strong crosswinds also blew over some semi-trailers along Interstate 25, near the Wyoming state line. In Larimer County, two small wildfires were sparked by downed power lines in Rist Canyon and near the Laporte/Bellvue areas. Four planes were damaged at the Vance Brand Municipal Airport in Longmont; one was wrecked. Insurance companies estimated up to $7 million in damage along the Front Range and adjacent plains, making it the 4th costliest windstorm to hit Colorado.
Peak wind gusts included: 111 mph, 3 miles north of Masonville; 98 mph at Carter Lake; 87 mph at the National Wind Technology Center; 86 mph, 2 miles north of Longmont and at Pinewood Lake; 81 mph, 3 miles east of Gold Hill; 78 mph, 2 miles west-southwest of Broomfield; 77 mph at Erie; 76 mph, 21 miles north of New Raymer and 75 mph at Lafayette.
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 29, 2:30 PM MST, 6 hours 36 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 230 PM MST MON DEC 29 2008 .SHORT TERM...STRONG WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT AND PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THROUGH THE NIGHT AS FAST MOVING SHORT WAVE RACES ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. NAM12 SHOWS A DENVER TO GRAND JUNCTION SURFACE PRESSURE DIFFERENCE OF 16 MB BY 12Z SUNDAY...AND DP/DN OFF THE SANGSTER WIND PROGRAM SHOWS VERY HIGH VALUES IN THE 250-260 RANGE. MEANWHILE...THE GFS40 HAS 700 MB WINDS AT 70 KNOTS COMING ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE. Q-G VERTICAL MOTION FIELDS SHOW SUBSIDENCE ALSO WORKING IN LATER TONIGHT SO PEAK OF THIS EVENT SEEMS TO BE SHAPING UP IN THE 06Z-15Z TIME FRAME. ONLY THING LACKING IS A MOUNTAIN TOP STABLE LAYER...BUT THIS LOOKS MORE LIKE A BRUTE FORCE AND GRADIENT EVENT SO HIGHS WINDS ARE EXPECTED ANYWAY. HAVE ALREADY ISSUED THE HIGH WIND WARNING EARLIER TODAY...AND WILL KEEP IT IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. WINDS WILL SHUT DOWN AS COLD FRONT BACKDOORS THROUGH NORTHEAST COLORADO AND BACK INTO THE FOOTHILLS. SOME MID LEVEL MOISTURE STREAMS EASTWARD FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA... AND THIS IS TIMED TO REACH THE FAR NORTHERN MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO VERY LATE TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING. MOISTURE IS LIMITED AND MAINLY CONFINED TO THE WYOMING BORDER AREA. ANY SNOW SHOWERS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE AN INCH OR LESS OF ACCUMULATION AS MOISTURE IS SO LIMITED. .LONG TERM...QUITE A BIT OF ZONAL FLOW ACROSS THE STATE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THIS WEEK WITH A COUPLE EMBEDDED SHORT WAVE TROUGHS BRINGING SOME SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS AT TIMES. THE GFS AND ECMWF HAVE VERY SIMILAR SOLUTIONS THROUGH ABOUT 120 HOURS...AT WHICH POINT THE ECMWF SHOWS A SHARPER TROUGH/CUTOFF LOW MOVING ACROSS THE SOUTHWESTERN U.S. LATE IN THE WEEKEND. ONLY MODEST AMOUNTS OF MOISTURE WILL BE ENTRAINED IN THE WESTERLY FLOW...SO ONLY LIGHT AMOUNTS OF OROGRAPHIC SNOWFALL ARE EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE FIRST SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS THE STATE ON THURSDAY WITH A BIT MORE SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE ECMWF INDICATES A WEAK SURFACE FRONT OVER EASTERN WYOMING AND NEBRASKA...BUT NOT MUCH OF AN INTRUSION INTO NORTHEAST COLORADO. WITHOUT A COLD FRONT ON THE PLAINS...CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION ON THE PLAINS WILL BE MINIMAL. THE NEXT TROUGH AND COLD FRONT ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE STATE ON SATURDAY. NEXT MONDAY...A DEEPER...POSSIBLY CUT OFF TROUGH IS FORECAST TO BE OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN DESERTS. WILL WAIT FOR LATER RUNS TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH NEXT MONDAYS WEATHER. DUE TO THE ZONAL NATURE OF THE FLOW PATTERN...TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE AROUND SEASONAL NORMALS...EXCEPT ON THURSDAY AND SUNDAY...WHEN WEEK FRONTAL SURGES BRING SOME COOLER AIR INTO THE REGION. && .AVIATION...DENVER CONVERGENCE ZONE WILL BRING VARIABLE NORTHWEST TO SOUTHWEST WINDS TO THE FRONT RANGE AIRPORTS TIL 03Z. THERE IS A WINDOW OF POTENTIAL LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR IF SURFACE FLOW STAYS SOUTHERLY ENOUGH DURING THE EVENING HOURS...COINCIDING WITH THE INCREASE IN WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. CLOSER TO 06Z...SURFACE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO SHIFT MORE WESTERLY AND INCREASE AS LARGE SCALE SUBSIDENCE MOVES IN. CANT RULE OUT A FEW GUSTS CLOSE TO 40 KNOTS AT KDEN AND KAPA...AND GUSTS AROUND 60 KNOTS AT KBJC DURING STRONGER WIND PERIOD OF 06Z-15Z. THEN COLD FRONT WILL SHIFT WINDS AROUND TO EASTERLY BY MID MORNING TUESDAY AND REMAIN EAST/SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE REST OF THE DAY. WILL HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR A BRIEF PERIOD OF LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR WITH THE FRONT AS WELL GIVEN THE VERY STRONG WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND NEARBY ADJACENT PLAINS FROM 6 PM MST TONIGHT UNTIL 11 AM MST TUESDAY...ZONES 35..36..38..AND 39. BARJENBRUCH/DANKERS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1103 AM MST MON DEC 29 2008 COZ030>051-301300- 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- 1103 AM MST MON DEC 29 2008 ...HIGH WIND WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING FOR THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND I-25 URBAN CORRIDOR IN NORTHERN COLORADO... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG AND GUSTY CHINOOK WINDS WILL INTENSIFY ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AND THEN SPREAD ACROSS THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE FRONT RANGE URBAN CORRIDOR OVERNIGHT. WIND SPEEDS WILL BE HIGHLY VARIABLE AND ERRATIC...WITH OCCASIONAL WIND SPEEDS OF 20 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 80 MPH IN WIND PRONE AREAS. THIS INCLUDES LOCATIONS FROM THE PEAK TO PEAK HIGHWAY DOWN TO BOULDER AND HIGHWAY 93...AS WELL AS U.S. 36 FROM BROOMFIELD THROUGH BOULDER AND ESTES PARK. STRONG WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT COMBINED WITH A DEEPENING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS WILL LEAD TO THE STRONG WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY GUSTY WINDS ALONG THE FOOTHILLS TUESDAY MORNING WILL DIMINISH BY MIDDAY. DRY WESTERLY WINDS ALOFT OVER COLORADO WILL BRING GENERALLY DRY AND MILD WEATHER TO THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. A PASSING WEATHER DISTURBANCE ON THURSDAY MAY PRODUCE SOME SNOWFALL IN THE MOUNTAINS. ANOTHER DISTURBANCE OVER THE WEEKEND MAY PRODUCE ADDITIONAL MOUNTAIN SNOWFALL SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. BARJENBRUCH/DANKERS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, December 2008
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: 146180, 146181, 146185.