High winds are typically associated with winter storms, hurricanes or severe thunderstorms.
But on the morning of Jan. 17, 1982, 43 years ago, a fierce windstorm hammered the Front Range of Colorado with gusts you might associate with a mountain top or within the eyewall of a hurricane.
Gusts as high as 137 mph were clocked southwest of Boulder, Colorado, at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Incredibly this sensor recorded 20 separate wind gusts of 120 mph or higher.
An estimated 40 percent of homes, businesses and public buildings in Boulder received at least some damage. Fifty homes in the city were damaged heavily enough to be rendered uninhabitable. At Boulder’s airport, 20 small planes were destroyed.
The high winds caused $20 million damage, the state’s costliest wind storm at the time, according to the National Weather Service.
At least 15 were injured, mostly with cuts. One elderly woman broke her hip when she fell from her mobile home because she wasn’t aware the winds swept away her steps and porch, UPI reported.
Colorado’s Front Range is susceptible to damaging winds from air slamming into the mountains, then squeezing through canyons and gaps along the Front Range, similar to Santa Ana wind events in Southern California.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.