DENVER — Wednesday is shaping up to become a windy day for much of Colorado, with a planned power outage in the San Luis Valley and several alerts about wildfire danger covering much of the state.
Like Tuesday, temperatures will hover about 20 degrees above normal on Wednesday, the National Weather Service (NWS) out of Boulder said. But strong winds and low humidity, combined with dry foliage, will bring those critical fire conditions on Wednesday.
The red flag warning will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, lasting through midnight. The strongest wind gusts — up to 45 mph — are expected in the late afternoon and evening, with minimum humidity between 4% and 9%. This applies to South Park, the Front Range, foothills, I-25 urban corridor, and much of eastern and southern Colorado, the NWS reported.
The windiest locations are expected to be the northern foothills.
But the NWS also stressed that the San Luis Valley, plus a narrow stretch up through Buena Vista and Leadville, will face a "particularly dangerous situation."
"Fires will spread uncontrollably and could be very destructive," they wrote about the valley.
Xcel Energy said at 4 p.m. Tuesday that they will implement a public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) for the San Luis Valley, which will impact about 7,100 customers in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, and Rio Grande counties, at noon Wednesday.
"Make final preparations for outages now, especially if you use medical equipment that requires electricity," the company warned.
Initially, Xcel Energy said a power shutoff may also impact customers in Garfield, Mesa and Pitkin counties, but said that is no longer planned.
The agency said crews will restore the power as soon as it is safe to do so. But it said that "rural, remote, mountainous and other difficult-to-reach areas could experience extended outages."
Winds are expected to weaken around 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The forecasters at the NWS noted that predicting the winds "will be more difficult," as they may be slow to develop or weaker than expected on the front end.
"Nonetheless, there is confidence that winds will gust between 35-45 mph which is why the Fire Weather Watch was upgraded to a Red Flag Warning," the agency reported.
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Xcel Energy said it will activate Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings across the state. This means power lines will be more sensitive and will stop the flow of energy if it detects an issue, such as a tree branch touching the line.
By Thursday morning, the red flag warning will have expired, but a fire weather watch will remain in effect for the southern foothills, urban corridor, eastern plains and South Park through the evening. A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are in the forecast.
Xcel Energy said it is monitoring a "high wildfire risk event" along the northern Front Range on Thursday. Click here for the latest.
Conditions will settle Friday through the weekend.
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