Fort Collins under high wind warning with gusts nearing 60 mph possible

Wind gusts matching Fort Collins' high temperature Friday have resulted in a National Weather Service high wind warning for the area from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Forecast wind gusts of 55 mph and a high of 53 degrees will eat up much of the 9 to 10 inches of snow the city received Monday.

At 2:15 p.m., Christman Field in northwest Fort Collins recorded the city's strongest gust at 73.4 mph, according to Russ Schumacher, professor in CSU's Department of Atmospheric Science and Colorado's state climatologist, on his Twitter account. He wrote it was the fifth-strongest gust in the history of the station that dates to 1979.

The highest gust recorded at the site was 83.7 mph Dec. 30, 2008.

Initial reports to the National Weather Service in Boulder on Friday showed:

• a 85-mph wind gust near Buckeye, 20 miles north of Fort Collins

• a 73.4 mph gust at Christman Field in northwest Fort Collins

• a 70-mph gust at Virginia Dale northwest of Fort Collins

• a 66-mph gust at Carr in Weld County

• a 62-mph gust near Mishawaka Amphitheater in Poudre Canyon

• a 58-mph gust in Laporte

• a 53-mph gust in Loveland

• A 50-mph gust in Fort Collins

How windy does it have to get for a high wind warning?

• Mountains/foothills: Sustained winds of 50 mph for at least one hour or gusts to 75 mph for any duration

• Lower elevations: Sustained winds of 40 mph for at least one hour or gusts to 58 mph for any duration

What area is included in the high wind warning and how windy will it get?

• The foothills and Interstate 25 corridor from southern Larimer County north to the Wyoming state line, then mushrooming out into northwest Weld County.

• Gusts of up to 65 mph are forecast for the warning area.

• Special precautions should be taken by those driving high-profile vehicles on I-25 from Fort Collins north to the Wyoming state line.

• Colorado State Patrol on its Twitter account said around 12:25 p.m. it was on the scene of two semi-tractor trailers that were blown over on I-25 6 to 12 miles south of the Wyoming state line. The area is restricted for lightweight high profile vehicles.

• Also, there is a red flag warning for the foothills from the southern Larimer County line south through Denver and Colorado Springs to the southeast corner of the state. The warning was extended to the southern foothills south of Denver to Colorado Springs.

• The city of Fort Collins closed The Farm around 12:40 p.m. due strong wind, according to its Twitter account.

What's behind this strong wind we are having?

• The National Weather Service said there is a strong system tracking just north of Colorado, moving through the Nebraska panhandle.

• As this moves north of us, we are on the back side of a pressure gradient between the high and low pressure, which produces strong wind.

• Also, the jet stream is over Colorado. When this happens, we get a mountain wave pattern, where the wind flows up the west side of the mountains and accelerates as it comes down the eastern flank of the mountains, creating particularly strong winds along the foothills.

Fort Collins prepares for windy but warm conditions through the weekend

• Friday, March 31: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53 degrees and northwest wind 16 to 26 mph, increasing to 28 to 38 mph in the afternoon, gusting to 55 mph and remaining steady throughout the night.

• Saturday, April 1: Sunny, with a high near 63, breezy with a west-southwest wind 5 to 15 mph, becoming north in the morning and gusting to 24 mph. Wind will remain steady throughout the night.

• Sunday, April 2: Mostly sunny, with a high near 65 and west-southwest wind 6 to 16 mph, increasing to 19 to 29 mph in the afternoon and gusting to 44 mph.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado weather alert: Forecast wind on Friday prompts warning