Strong winds occurred near the Cheyenne Ridge and in Logan County. Peak wind gusts included 62 mph, 6 miles southwest Carr and near Natural Fort Rest Area, and 58 mph near Sterling.
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The episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
Strong winds occurred near the Cheyenne Ridge and in Logan County. Peak wind gusts included 62 mph, 6 miles southwest Carr and near Natural Fort Rest Area, and 58 mph near Sterling.
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 Apr 17, 3:02 AM MST, 5 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 402 AM MDT Sun Apr 17 2022 .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) Issued at 307 AM MDT Sun Apr 17 2022 Water vapor showing upper trof axis now passing through central Colorado with noted drying showing up along the Continental Divide. Expect the stronger westerly winds will be increasing now through dawn with increasing QG subsidence. Surface pressure gradients across the state also on the rise. Expect a windy day across the mountains and plains in post trof regime. For the mountains, still decent orographic northwest flow and upstream moisture will keep snow showers ongoing across higher areas, with diminishing activity by later this afternoon and evening. Could see another 1 to 3 inches of snow over higher mountains, mainly north of Interstate 70 corridor. As for the high wind potential, there is a developing mountain top inversion this morning but upstream moisture likely to dampen the amplification of the wave. Peak wind gusts from HRRR/RAP mainly in the 50-65 mph range. This is shy of the 75 mph criteria for a high wind warning so no wind warnings are planned. Across the plains, the scattered showers now ongoing will have moved east of Colorado by daybreak with clearing skies. With moderate subsidence and good mixing this afternoon, expect increasing winds up to 45 mph. Despite the slight cooling at 700mb, temperatures will be a bit warmer today with better mixing from the mid levels. With the windy and warm conditions, this will lead to critical fire weather conditions (see fire discussion below). Winds will decouple this evening with diminishing winds. .LONG TERM...(Monday through Saturday) Issued at 307 AM MDT Sun Apr 17 2022 It will be warm and dry early this week beneath ridging aloft. Monday, high temperatures will be in the 60s on the plains and 40s and 50s in the high country. It will be quite breezy again, with widespread peak gusts of 30 to 35 mph. There should be a little bit more moisture and afternoon minimum humidity up to around 20 percent in most areas. The exceptions are parts of the southern foothills and South Park where humidity will probably fall into that critical 10 to 15 percent range in the afternoon. This is expected to occur in a relatively limited area and land managers report fuels to be non-critical in these locations, so we have decided not issue any fire weather highlights at this time and will continue to monitor the situation. Tuesday is of greatest concern in the period. The ridge axis will move over Colorado late Monday and then Tuesday looks to be the warmest and driest. Temperatures will be well above normal, with highs reaching the upper 70s and lower 80s across the plains and widespread critically low humidity of 10 to 15 percent. Looks like we'll barely miss out on a nice low to mid level plume of Gulf moisture. Winds will be breezy yet again gusting 30 to 35 mph in many areas by afternoon. It's still a bit too soon for fire weather highlights for Tuesday but another Fire Weather Watch covering most or all of the lower elevations continues to seem very likely. Another shortwave should pass close by our north late Tuesday and early Wednesday and bring isolated to scattered showers, mainly to the northern mountains, and a weak cold front. Temperatures may be 5 to 10 F cooler across the area Wednesday, which is still a bit warm. Then there will be a brief return to ridging Thursday ahead of the next trough and with persistent breezy winds we could have fire weather concerns again, especially Friday. Fortunately, that trough should bring a round of showers this weekend, more widespread for the high country than over the plains and possibly with some isolated thunder. Precipitation would be mostly snow for the mountains, rain for the lower elevations, and mixed in the foothills and mountain valleys. There is still a lot of uncertainty based on a lack of model consensus, which is typical at this range. There is actually pretty good agreement on the general storm track, through the desert southwest then up across Colorado to the high plains. The disagreement is mainly in the timing. The GFS currently has an earlier and faster system impacting northeast Colorado already by late Friday and putting us behind the system by Saturday, while the European and Canadian models are slower with impacts starting Saturday and lasting through the weekend. It wouldn't add a lot of value to speculate much until we can have some certainty, and our current "blended" forecast compromises the possibilities pretty well, but it will be interesting to watch the solutions develop through the week. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Monday morning) Issued at 307 AM MDT Sun Apr 17 2022 Skies clearing behind upper wave with VFR conditions expected through the next TAF cycle. Main impacts will be the winds today. Surface winds already shifting west and northwest now and expect increasing winds after 17z with gusts up to 35kt. Winds will decrease by this evening at all terminals. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 307 AM MDT Sun Apr 17 2022 Expect critical fire weather conditions this afternoon across the plains given strong northwest winds and lowering humidities close to 15 percent. Humidities are more borderline between 15-20 percent in some areas but given the ample strong winds in the 30-40 mph that should trump the marginal humidities. Humidities may even drop further than current model forecasts. Will be excluding fire weather zone 238 as humidities there will generally be over 20 percent. There will also be gusty winds up to 65 mph over the mountains and foothills today. Winds will be decreasing rapidly this evening in all areas. Monday, there should be a little bit more moisture and afternoon minimum humidity up to around 20 percent in most areas. The exceptions are parts of the southern foothills and South Park where humidity will probably fall into that critical 10 to 15 percent range in the afternoon. This is expected to occur in a relatively limited area and land managers report fuels to be non- critical in these locations, so we have decided not issue any fire weather highlights at this time. Tuesday looks to be the warmest and driest of the period, and in the afternoon there will likely be widespread critically low humidity of 10 to 15 percent across the lower elevations coincident with breezy winds gusting 30 to 35 mph in many areas. It's still a bit too soon for fire weather highlights for Tuesday but another Fire Weather Watch covering most or all of the lower elevations continues to seem very likely. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning from noon today to 8 PM MDT this evening for COZ239>251. && SHORT TERM...Entrekin LONG TERM...EJD AVIATION...Entrekin FIRE WEATHER...Entrekin
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 449 AM MDT Sun Apr 17 2022 COZ030>051-181100- 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- 449 AM MDT Sun Apr 17 2022 ...Critical fire weather conditions this afternoon across northeast Colorado... This hazardous weather outlook is for northeast and north central Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Critical fire weather conditons are expected this afternoon through early evening over the northeast plains of Colorado with gusty winds up to 45 mph and low humidities. There will also be strong winds over the higher mountains and exposed east slopes with gusts up to 65 mph possible. The wind will diminish in most areas by this evening. Snow showers will continue over the northern mountains with an additional 1 to 3 inches of snow, mainly north of the interstate 70 corridor. Snow will diminish by this evening. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday Monday, there may be areas of crtically low humidity around the southern foothills and South Park during the afternoon but land managers report fuels to be non-critical in these locations so we have decided not issue any fire weather highlights at this time. Tuesday is of greatest concern in the period. We expect critically low humidity of 10 to 15 percent widespread across the plains coincident with peak gusts 30 to 35 mph in many areas by afternoon. It's still a bit too soon for fire weather highlights for Tuesday but another Fire Weather Watch covering most or all of the lower elevations continues to seem very likely. Fire weather conditions should be a little better Wednesday and Thursday, though still elevated across the plains. Friday, we expect critical fire weather conditions across much of the lower elevations again, especially around the Palmer Divide and adjacent plains east and south. Late Friday into the weekend, there may be widespread showers in the high country and scattered showers on the plains. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed.
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 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2022
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: 1016406, 1016407.