100 mph gusts? Here's how Colorado's foothills and plains can see such impressive winds

DENVER — We have a whole lot of wind coming up over the next couple of days as a strong storm system moves across Colorado.

Winter weather advisories are in effect until early Sunday morning for the mountains, while a high wind warning is in place until noon on Sunday across all of north central Colorado.

Denver7

So what's going on with all of us?

Well, let's start out with the jetstream winds. There is a band of the jetstream to the south and west of us called “the jetstream core” that has very strong winds aloft at about 30,000 feet. That core is quite strong as it comes through Colorado, perhaps even a little stronger to the south of us as we’re right on that northern edge of the jetstream core.

At the surface, we have a strong cold front that’s moving west to east across the area. A deep low pressure system will swing a lot of winds all the way around and across Colorado over the next couple of days with that jetstream aloft.

Denver7

The winds that will bring gusts up to 100 mph in the foothills are called Chinook winds, a downslope where the wind comes down the mountains. It tends to be a warmer wind because when air travels downhill, it warms up about 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1,000 feet of descent.

Sometimes those winds can almost “bounce” over the metro and come back down to the ground a little further off to the east. So strong winds blow in the foothills and the eastern plains, with gusty conditions in the metro as that jetstream energy comes down to the surface.

In addition, the mountains can get a lot of snow because the moisture is squeezed out as it goes over the mountains. Meanwhile, we just get lighter showers out on the plains.

Denver7

The shower is a mix of rain and snow, which is not going to be enough to really bring down the fire danger because we won't see enough moisture on the plains.