Severe winds rattled the Front Range and foothills Tuesday, uprooting trees and blowing over semi-trailers on Interstate 25.
Two people — a truck driver and passenger — were seriously injured when the semi they were in was toppled by winds in Larimer County, said Trooper David Hall of the Colorado State Patrol.
The accident happened about 11:15 a.m., and the pair were taken to a local hospital, Hall said. Details on their injuries were not released, and the victims were not identified.
Winds also toppled a semi-trailer on I-25 in Colorado Springs, said Lt. David Whitlock of the Colorado Springs police. The accident happened about 8:45 a.m. in the northbound lane between Woodman Road and North Nevada Avenue.
“It just blew over,” Whitlock said.
That trucker suffered minor injuries, and highway traffic was limited to one lane for about two hours as the wreckage was cleared.
Strong winds pounded wide portions of Colorado throughout the morning Tuesday, with a 91 mph blast reported west of Loveland in the Carter Lake area at an elevation of about 5,700 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
In Broomfield, a 70-year-old, 50-foot-tall cottonwood tree was toppled by winds, crushing the back end of a pickup truck.
“It smashed the Toyota and broke the front windshield,” said Broomfield homeowner Mary Hiett. “The trailer part of it is just smashed. It smashed it down.”
Other extreme measurements Tuesday included 77 mph at Rocky Flats, 66 mph in Lakewood and 62 mph in Boulder, the Weather Service reported.
In the Denver area, high winds downed some power lines and snapped tree limbs into lines, causing scattered power outages starting about 4 a.m., said Joe Fuentes, an Xcel Energy spokesman.
At least eight utility poles were snapped, and at the peak of the outages, about 28,000 Xcel customers were affected. All power lines were expected to be back up by 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The gusty Chinook winds warmed parts of the state, driving Denver’s afternoon high to 58 on Tuesday.
Winds are forecast to kick up again this afternoon, with 60 mph gusts likely over high mountain passes and along the Front Range foothills, the Weather Service said. The winds are expected to continue blowing through the night and will help bring a chance of snow to the north and central mountains on Thursday, the Weather Service said.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
