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Colorado Springs wind storm downs power lines, closes schools and leaves thousands without power

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Colorado Springs wind storm downs power lines, closes schools and leaves thousands without power


Thousands of Colorado Springs residents were without electricity Monday after a windstorm ripped through the Pikes Peak region, according to Colorado Springs Utilities.

As of 7:30 a.m., wind gusts of 40-60 mph had contributed to multiple power outages, with about 10,000 customers affected, according to the utilities website.

The number of affected customers was down to around 6,700 as of 11:15 a.m.

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Most of the outages have taken place west of Interstate 25, Utilities said. Broadmoor, Ivywild, Old Colorado City, Manitou Springs and Green Mountain Falls are among the hardest hit.

“Our electric troubleshooters and cable technicians are in full deployment to focus on power restoration efforts, and also our construction crews have been deployed as needed to assist with these restorations,” Utilities spokesman Jay Anderson said at a press conference held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management office, to address the regional weather response.

Winds were still too strong Monday for Utilities officials to respond to certain calls requiring bucket trucks, so crews are responding to many of the power outages remotely, he said.







Colorado Springs wind storm

A crew from Timberline Landscaping remove a downed fir tree in the yard of a home in the Skyway neighborhood on the westside of Colorado Springs Monday, May 6, 2024. Winds as high as 60 miles an hour hit the area early Monday morning. The homeowner said he heard the tree fall about 5:30 a.m. The house was mostly spared because the tree landed on top of a juniper tree instead of directly on the house. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

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Downed lines and power outages have resulted in multiple school closures. The Cheyenne Mountain and Manitou Springs school districts have both canceled classes Monday. The Mountain Song Community School and The Colorado Springs School are also both closed. See a full list of closures and delays here.

Fires reported

At least two small fires had also been reported in the region, including one reported near Skyway Park Elementary School on Mercury Drive around 6:45 a.m. A pre-evacuation warning was also sent to residents in the lower part of Crystal Park neighborhood in Manitou Springs, due to a fire near 1150 Scrub Oak Drive. Officials said the warning had been lifted during the Monday morning press conference. 

Colorado Springs police and fire departments have taken numerous emergency calls regarding the windstorm and have requested that residents do not call 911 to report outages.

Technicians are working to restore power, but safety concerns might cause delays in some areas, Utilities officials said.

Colorado Springs Utilities’ in-house wildland fire team is assisting the Colorado Springs Fire Department and other agencies who request help to cut tree limbs and is also responding to reports of downed power lines, downed trees and small grassfires, Colorado Springs Fire Department spokeswoman Ashley Franco said Monday morning.

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The forecast

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for Colorado Springs and surrounding areas as gusts range between 40-60 mph, with higher gusts expected west of the interstate through at least noon today. 

Breezy conditions are forecast to continue through Tuesday, according to the Weather Service.

For updates on power restoration, visit www.csu.org.

Colorado Springs Airport

One incoming flight has been canceled and a handful of others delayed at the Colorado Springs Airport on Monday, according to Flight Aware. Arrival and departure updates can be found here. 


Colorado Springs weather: High wind warning Monday, cooler


Colorado Springs Weather: windy conditions with fire danger and thunderstorms later this week

Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country

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Warm storm delivers modest totals to Colorado’s northern mountains

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Warm storm delivers modest totals to Colorado’s northern mountains


Arapahoe Basin Ski Area recorded 8.5 inches of snow through Friday morning.
Lucas Herbert/Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

Friday morning wrapped up a warm storm across Colorado’s northern and central mountains, bringing totals of up to 10 inches of snowfall for several resorts.

Higher elevation areas of the northern mountains — particularly those in and near Summit County and closer to the Continental Divide — received the most amount of snow, with Copper, Winter Park and Breckenridge mountains seeing among the highest totals.

Meanwhile, lower base areas and valleys received rain and cloudy skies, thanks to a warmer storm with a snow line of roughly 9,000 feet.



Earlier this week, OpenSnow meteorologists predicted the storm’s snow totals would be around 5-10 inches, closely matching actual totals for the northern mountains. The central mountains all saw less than 5 inches of snow.

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Here’s how much snow fell between Wednesday through Friday morning for some Western Slope mountains, according to a Friday report from OpenSnow:



Aspen Mountain: 0.5 inches

Snowmass: 0.5 inches

Copper Mountain: 10 inches

Winter Park: 9 inches

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Breckenridge Ski Resort: 9 inches

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area: 8.5 inches

Keystone Resort: 8 inches

Loveland Ski Area: 7 inches

Vail Mountain: 7 inches

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Steamboat Resort: 6 inches

Beaver Creek: 6 inches

Irwin: 4.5 inches

Cooper Mountain: 4 inches

Sunlight: 0.5 inches

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Friday and Saturday will be dry, while Sunday will bring northern showers. The next storms are forecast to be around March 3-4 and March 6-7, both favoring the northern mountains.





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Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild

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Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild


The Colorado Avalanche had a chance Thursday night to regain some real separation between them and the Minnesota Wild.

It didn’t happen, and special teams were again an issue.

Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored a pair of power-play goals, while the Avalanche took too many penalties and did not convert its chances with the extra man in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena. The Wild scored on two of six power plays, both in the second period, then added a shorthanded goal into an empty net for good measure.

“We took six (penalties). Six is too many, especially against a power play like theirs,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a slow start to the second and then just kind of started getting going, then took a bunch of penalties and kind of took the momentum away and swung it back in their favor again.”

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Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent early in this contest and stopped 31 of 34 shots for the Avs in his first start since the Olympic break. Colorado, which went 0-for-3 on the power play, has not scored an extra-man goal in back-to-back games since Dec. 31 and Jan. 3. The Avs are 2-for-31 with the man advantage since Jan. 16, and at 15.1% are last in the NHL.

The Wild are now just five points behind the Avs in the Central Division, though Colorado has two games in hand. Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves for the visitors.

“I think we crated enough chances to win the hockey game,” Bednar said. “We give up the (second power-play goal) and that’s the difference in the hockey game for me. We had a chance (on the power play) … we score and it’s a tie game. We haven’t had an easy time capitalizing on some of our chances that we created in the last month.

“I’d like to see that turn around a little bit.”

Minnesota took advantage of three penalties on Colorado in a span of 53 seconds to take the lead with 2:23 left in the second period. Captain Gabe Landeskog was sent to the box for elbowing Eriksson Ek away from the play at 14:15 and Valeri Nichushkin was called for cross-checking at 15:04.

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That gave the Wild a 5-on-3, but it went from bad to worse in a hurry for the home side. Brock Nelson won the 3-on-5 in his own end, but Brent Burns’ backhanded attempt to clear the puck out of the zone went into the stands for a delay of game.

Minnesota had a 5-on-3 for 1:56, which Colorado successfully killed off, but because Burns’ two minutes didn’t start until Landeskog’s penalty ended, there was more 5-on-4 time and Eriksson Ek scored his second of the night. The Swedish Olympian was trying to send a cross-crease pass to Kirill Kaprizov, but it hit the inside of Blackwood’s right leg and pinballed across the goal line.

Because of the extended penalty time, both Eriksson Ek and Boldy officially logged a shift of more than four minutes, leading to that goal.

“I’m not a big fan of the penalties we took, necessarily,” Landeskog said. “Obviously, mine is a penalty. Val, I felt like he was protecting himself and Burns, that’s a penalty. There’s nothing to argue about there. But yeah, that tilts the ice for sure and just gives them unnecessary momentum.

“So yeah, undisciplined and we’ve got to be better there for sure.”

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Eriksson Ek put Minnesota in front at 7:48 of the second period. Cale Makar was called for slashing when his one-handed swipe while Yakov Trenin was attempting to shoot from the left wing. Trenin’s stick broke, so Makar went to the box.

Blackwood made the initial save on Matt Boldy’s shot from the high slot, but Eriksson Ek was there near the left post to clean up the rebound.



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Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon

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Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon



Late Thursday morning, a house fire spreading into the nearby woods in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon prompted officials to issue a pre-evacuation order to nearby residents. Firefighters have since brought the blaze under control.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, a house fire broke out around 11:30 a.m. in the 10600 block of Ralston Creek Road in Golden Gate Canyon, located around 25 miles west of Denver. The fire then began to spread into the nearby trees and grass.

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Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office


Multiple fire units quickly responded to the scene, and the JCSO issued a pre-evacuation notice to all residents within a three-mile radius, warning them to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

At 12:34 p.m., the sheriff’s office announced that the fire is no longer spreading and the burn area has been contained to less than an acre. A photo shared by JCSO shows a structure nearly completely destroyed by the fire.

Pre-evacuation orders were lifted around 1 p.m.

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