Colorado Faces High Winds and Fire Danger: Red Flag Warnings and Power Outages Expected
Colorado is facing high winds and fire danger until Saturday morning, as per the National Weather Service. Red flag warnings are in place for the Eastern Plains until Thursday evening, with wind gusts of up to 65 mph expected. Stronger gusts of up to 85 mph are forecast for the Front Range and foothills Thursday night into Friday morning. A high wind warning is in effect for several counties until Thursday morning, with a high wind watch taking over Thursday night into Friday morning.
The warning highlights the potential for damaging winds that could cause tree and power line damage, making travel difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles. Peak wind gusts of 65 mph are expected on the east side of Interstate 25, while Denver will be under a fire weather watch on Friday with wind gusts between 70-80 mph and humidity levels dropping to 10%.
The strong winds are expected to persist overnight into Saturday, gradually dispersing by Saturday evening. Xcel Energy is closely monitoring the fire weather risk for Friday and considering public safety power shutoffs for several counties. Restoration of outages may take several hours to days, with some customers possibly experiencing prolonged outages until after Friday's potential shutoffs. Customers can track current outages on the utility's online outage map.
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