Strong to high winds occurred over northern parts of El Paso County and Teller County. Winds gusted up to 80 mph knocking around 20 trees down.
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 PUB wrote it up.
Strong to high winds occurred over northern parts of El Paso County and Teller County. Winds gusted up to 80 mph knocking around 20 trees down. A semi-trailer was overturned near mile marker 148 on I-25 in northern Colorado Springs. Four power failures affected nearly 1000 customers on the north side of Colorado Springs.
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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 30, 4:03 AM MST, 2 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 403 AM MST TUE DEC 30 2008 .SHORT TERM... (TODAY AND TONIGHT) ...WINDY CONDITIONS OVER PIKES PEAK/RAMPART RANGE THIS MORNING... MAIN CONCERN IN SHORT TERM WILL BE THIS MORNING...AS STRONG WINDS PERSIST OVER THE LEE SIDE OF THE RAMPART RANGE. STRONGEST WINDS SHOULD CONTINUE TO REMAIN N OF THE CWA...CLOSER TO THE JET OVER NE CO. SOME CONCERNS REMAIN FOR THE PIKES PEAK REGION THROUGH ABOUT 18Z...AS A BAND OF SUBSIDENCE QUITE EVIDENT ON WV IMAGERY SLIDES SWD OVER THE AREA. PIKES PEAK SENSOR RECORDED A 92 MPH GUST SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT...TYING A YEAR HIGH FOR THE PEAK...AND WAVE CLOUD ACTIVITY HAS INCREASED QUITE A BIT OVR THE PAST COUPLE HOURS. OTHERWISE...PEAK WINDS HAVE BEEN IN THE 60 MPH FOR THE PEAK...OR BELOW HIGH WIND CRITERIA. WILL HAVE TO CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR OVER THE NEXT 6 H OR SO. XSECTIONS DO NOT SHOW MUCH OF A RIDGE TOP STABLE LAYER...AS NOTED IN EARLIER DISCUSSION...BUT WAVE BREAKING POSSIBLE IN THE 10-16Z TIME FRAME COULD RESULT IN SOME LEE SIDE WINDY CONDITIONS. HAVE BUMPED UP LEE SIDE SKY GRIDS THIS MORN WITH WAVE CLOUDS LASTING THRU THE MORNING HOURS. COLD FRONT PUSHES OVER THE PLAINS AFTER 18Z...BUT IS BASICALLY DRY AND MAIN INITIAL EFFECT WILL BE A VEERING OF THE SFC WINDS. TEMPS ALOFT DO NOT REALLY FALL OFF UNTIL LATE IN THE AFTERNOON...AND WITH NO EXTENSIVE CLOUD DECK OR PRECIP IN THE AFTERNOON...THE FRONT WILL NOT HAVE THAT MUCH OF AN EFFECT ON TEMPS. HIGHS TODAY SHOULD ONLY FALL A FEW DEGREES SHORT OF MON HIGHS. WITH MORE EXTENSIVE COOLING TONIGHT...COULD SEE SOME MFR CLOUD DECKS DEVELOP OVER THE NRN I-25 CORRIDOR...ESPECIALLY INVOF KCOS. MTNS SHOULD BE FAIRLY CLEAR OVERNIGHT...LEADING TO SOME CHILLY CONDITIONS BY MORNING. SOME HIGH CLOUDS WILL DRIFT IN FROM THE NW. AS MENTIONED IN EARLIER DISCUSSION...NAM GUIDANCE HAS BEEN UNRELIABLE FOR BL PARAMETERS RECENTLY...SO HAVE CHOSEN TO IGNORE THE NAM PROGS OF SATURATED BL CONDITIONS IN THE SAN LUIS VALLEY TONIGHT. WHILE IT CAN NOT BE COMPLETELY RULED OUT...SYNOPTIC PATTERN...LOCAL CONDITIONS...AND PERSISTENCE DO NOT SUPPORT THE WIDESPREAD DEVELOPMENT OF FOG OR STRATUS. ROSE .LONG TERM... (WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY) ...GENERALLY MILD AND BREEZY AT TIMES THROUGH FRIDAY...THEN A CHANGE POSSIBLE OVER THE WEEKEND... GENERALLY PROGRESSIVE ZONAL FLOW PATTERN THROUGH FRIDAY...WITH WEAK COOL FRONTS BRINGING SOME COOLING TO THE EAST WEDNESDAY AND POSSIBLY AGAIN TO THE FAR EAST THURSDAY AFTERNOON. COULD BE WINDY TO VERY WINDY AT TIMES. DOESNT LOOK LIKE HIGH WIND WARNING CRITERIA YET...BUT WILL NEED TO BE MONITORED THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF SATURDAY. COULD POSSIBLY SEE SOME HIGH WINDS DEVELOP...MAINLY ALONG AND NEAR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE EASTERN MOUNTAIN RANGES. ON SATURDAY...A SHORTWAVE APPROACHES FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST...WITH A SURFACE FRONT SLIPPING SOUTH THROUGH THE EASTERN COLORADO PLAINS. THE JETSTREAM SHIFTS SOUTH TO THE NEW MEXICO BORDER REGION...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME JET ENHANCED BANDED PRECIP TO THE NORTH OF THE JET AXIS...MOSTLY ALONG AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 50. SNOW SHOULD ALSO BE FALLING IN THE HIGH COUNTRY...WITH LIGHT PRECIP ACROSS THE HIGH VALLEYS. ON SUNDAY...THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LOW SHIFTS SOUTHEASTWARD INTO ARIZONA...WITH GENERALLY LIGHT SNOWFALL CONTINUING ACROSS THE HIGH COUNTRY AND A CHANCE FOR SOME LIGHT SNOW ACROSS THE LOWER ELEVATIONS. TEMPERATURES SHOULD TAKE A DIVE TO BELOW AVERAGE JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE. IF CURRENT TIMING IS CORRECT...THE UPPER LOW KICKS EAST ON MONDAY FOR WARMING AND DRYING. SNOWFALL SHOULD DISSIPATE EXCEPT FOR SOME SCATTERED LIGHT PRECIPITATION ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. LW && .AVIATION... THE WIND DIRECTION AND SPEED WILL BE CHALLENGING FOR THE KCOS TERMINAL POINT GIVEN MOUNTAIN WAVE DEVELOPMENT THRU ABOUT 18Z. LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR WILL BE POSSIBLE E OF THE RAMPART RANGE THIS MORNING AS WINDY CONDITIONS PERSIST FROM 8K FT MSL. WINDS SHOULD VEER TO THE E THIS AFTERNOON AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH. AS PER THE GENERAL FORECAST DISCUSSION...SOME MVFR CIGS WILL BE POSSIBLE AFTER 03Z TONIGHT AT KPUB AND ESPECIALLY KPUB. OVR THE SAN LUIS VALLEY...SOME PATCHY LOW CLOUDS COULD DEVELOP EARLY WED MORNING...BUT OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS SHOULD PERSIST. ROSE && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 44/50
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
605 AM MST TUE DEC 30 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0555 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 NE AIR FORCE ACADEMY 39.03N 104.80W
12/30/2008 M60 MPH EL PASO CO TRAINED SPOTTER
HAM RADIO OPERATOR WITH WIND EQUIPMENT.
&&
MNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
639 AM MST TUE DEC 30 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0635 AM NON-TSTM WND GST MONUMENT 39.10N 104.88W
12/30/2008 M73.00 MPH EL PASO CO FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
RECORDED ON WIND EQUIPMENT AT FIRE STATION.
&&
MNThe 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: 146062, 146063, 146064.