DENVER—A Colorado man was fatally injured when a tree branch snapped off in high winds and smashed through the windshield of his car Saturday.
The State Patrol said 61-year-old James Baker-Jarvis of Longmont died at a hospital after the freak accident about five miles north of Boulder. At least one other person was in the car but wasn’t injured.
“It’s one of those unbelievably unlikely events,” said patrol Sgt. Mike Baker. “It sounds like the wind broke it loose and … he happened to drive under it right as it was falling.”
Baker said he didn’t know how big the branch was.
High winds buffeted most of the state Saturday, and gusts in the Boulder area reached between 44 and 53 mph at about the time Baker-Jarvis was killed, according to the National Weather Service.
A 126-mph gust was recorded at 5 a.m. by an automated weather station at a remote site in Summit County 12,000 feet above sea level.
That was not a record for the state. National Park Service rangers have said winds in excess of 200 mph have been measured atop the 14,259-foot Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.
A gust of 69 mph was reported in Wray, about 140 miles east of Denver near the Nebraska border.
Wind-related power failures were reported in the ski town of Breckenridge and elsewhere in the state.
A semi that was parked on the shoulder of E-470 in the southeast Denver metro area was blown over, and two semis were toppled on U.S. 85 north of Denver, Baker said.
All three drivers reported minor injuries, Baker said.
Accidents, high winds and debris on roadways closed some highways intermittently throughout the day. High-profile vehicles were barred from a 180-mile stretch of Interstate 76 between Denver and the northeast corner of the state Saturday morning, but the restriction was lifted later.
Aspen, Breckenridge and Winter Park ski areas delayed the openings of some lifts and gondolas because of the wind.
A high-wind warning was in effect for a wide swath of the high plains from the southern borders of Colorado and Kansas to the Canadian border for most of Saturday. The warning area shrank and moved eastward later in the day.
The Summit Daily News reported () that about 5,000 customers lost electric power in Breckenridge on Saturday morning. The Denver Post reported () that 19,000 homes lost electricity at scattered locations statewide.
Officials of Xcel Energy didn’t immediately return a call.
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