More than 100,000 Colorado homes and businesses lost power on Friday as a severe windstorm hit the Front Range mountains and foothills with 112 mph gusts, snarling transportation on highways and at Denver International Airport, closing dozens of schools and creating extreme fire weather conditions.
Xcel Energy deliberately cut electricity to 69,000 customers at 5 a.m. in Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer, and Weld counties as a precaution to prevent wildfires being sparked by downed powerlines.
The utility reported 86,040 customers across the Front Range were without power as of 5 p.m.. Xcel’s online outage map listed all of those outages as unplanned, but an Xcel spokesperson told The Denver Post that most of the outages were from the public safety power shutoff.
showed 10,721 customers without power, while reported 3,994 and Poudre Valley electric cooperative reported 2,632 customers without power.
Restoring power could take “up to several days to complete” as crews have to “inspect power lines and repair damage before they can be safely re-energized,” Xcel said in a statement.
A similar windstorm caused Xcel leaders to preemptively cut power to about 50,000 customers on Wednesday, and utility officials said almost 200,000 customers lost power at some point during that storm.
Xcel Energy’s handling of the outages caused frustration among some Front Range residents this week over confusing or inadequate communication about when power would be shut off and restored.
Gov. Jared Polis on Friday echoed those concerns and called on Xcel to “provide more transparency and clear communication” about planned outages.
“No Coloradan should be wondering if they will or will not have power, and when it may be turned on again, or worse, receive no communication or confusing communication,” Polis said in a statement.
This is not the first time Polis has called out the utility company after a preemptive power cut. In 2024, Polis criticized Xcel leaders for their lack of communication and the slow restoration after the company cut power to thousands of customers before a spring windstorm.
At the time, Polis instructed the state’s power cuts, including guardrails around future public safety power shutoffs, better communication, better outage mapping and emergency response coordination.
“Many of these items have not yet been addressed adequately by Xcel,” Polis’ office wrote in a news release Friday.
Xcel Energy officials did not respond to an email seeking comment about Polis’ statements.
Friday’s storm also raised concerns about wildfires, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a rare “particularly dangerous situation red flag warning” because of exceptionally high winds, warm temperatures and low relative humidity, around 8 to 20% — prime conditions for the quick spread of fire.
Despite the wind, Denver broke the daily high temperature record for Dec. 19, hitting 68 degrees at DIA around noon. The previous daily record, 67 degrees, was last set in 2023.
Wind gusts hit 112 mph in Boulder, 90 mph in Lyons, 84 mph in Clear Creek County and 95 mph in Larimer County near Carter Lake, according to the
Several metro Denver school districts canceled classes for some or all students on Friday, including all of Boulder Valley School District and 34 schools in Jeffco Public Schools.
People with early holiday travel plans may have encountered transportation headaches on Friday as state and federal officials ordered closures and delays across metro Denver because of the storm.
The Colorado Department of Transportation closed U.S. 36 between Boulder and Lyons; Colorado 93 between 64th Avenue and Colorado 170; and Colorado 128 between Colorado 93 and McCaslin Boulevard because of the wind. All three highways remained closed Friday evening.
Farther east, the winds managed to disrupt more than 1,000 flights at DIA after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop Friday morning, which was scaled back to a ground delay in the afternoon.
Airlines delayed 1,158 flights and canceled 76 flights as of Friday evening, including 367 delayed and 13 canceled United Airlines flights; 347 delayed and 25 canceled Southwest flights; and 259 delayed and 26 canceled SkyWest flights, according to the flight tracking website .
The American Red Cross opened several emergency 24-hour shelters and charging centers for people still without power, which will remain open Saturday.
Emergency shelters:
- Gilpin County School – 10595 Highway 119, Black Hawk, CO 80422 (Open 24 hours a day until further notice)
- Carmody Middle School — 2050 S. Kipling St., Lakewood (Open 24 hours a day until further notice)
Charging centers:
- Evergreen Fire Station – 1802 Bergen Pkwy, Evergreen (Open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
- Berthoud Fire Department, 248 Welch Ave., Berthoud (Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
- Clear Creek County Health and Wellness Center – 1969 Miner St., Idaho Springs (Open Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Xcel employees with red trucks planned to be at these centers providing support and information, company officials said.
For the households hit with planned outages on Wednesday, more than 90% had their power restored, utility officials said. “No one has been out for three days,” Xcel spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said.
Weekend weather conditions in metro Denver should be much calmer, according to the National Weather Service. Saturday should bring light winds, a slight chance of rain showers and a high near 53 in Denver, while Sunday’s forecast includes mostly sunny conditions and a high near 59.
