Updated at 5:19 p.m. on Friday March 13, 2026.
High winds and extremely dry, warm weather will continue Friday through Sunday, with red flag and fire weather warnings across the Eastern Plains and the Foothills.
Xcel Energy has warned of likely power shutoffs to prevent fire risk. Those could affect 18,000 customers in Boulder and Jefferson Counties. On Thursday, more than 30,000 customers were without power due to wind damage. Around 6,000 remained without power Friday afternoon.
Xcel said it is planning for a possible Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) beginning on Saturday around 2 p.m.
The company warned that outages could last throughout the weekend, depending on the level of damage, and that residents should prepare to be without power for several days.
High winds damaged power lines and caused dust storms across the plains on Thursday. A fire outside Fort Collins caused temporary evacuation orders for part of Laporte but was quickly extinguished.
This comes during the warmest winter ever recorded for Colorado. A record snow drought has also increased fire risk across the state and brought worries of downstream water scarcity in the spring.
According to the National Weather Service, high winds are expected to continue along the Front Range Mountains and Foothills Friday, with gusts from 60 to 80 miles an hour. Travel will be hazardous, especially for high-profile vehicles such as semi-trucks, with the potential for tree damage and power line damage impeding roadways.
Red flag warnings are in effect until 8 p.m. Friday and again Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Temperatures continue to be far above normal, and humidity is extremely low.
“If a fire starts, it will be able to spread rapidly,” said NWS meteorologist Abby Pettett. She added that conditions were not expected to be as extreme as in mid-December, when wind gusts topped 105 miles per hour.
“This is not typical,” she said. “We do see these windy events in the winter, but having conditions be this dry is kind of the anomalous thing."
In the Denver area, winds are only expected to reach about 25-45 miles per hour. On Saturday night, rain and snow are expected. Temperatures will drop Sunday, and the fire risk will abate.
Pettett said that a cold front will arrive Sunday, with temperatures dropping from the mid-70s on Saturday to the 20s on Sunday, decreasing fire risk but bringing another round of high winds next week.
“Just be prepared for a little bit of whiplash this weekend, with the Saturday warm, dry fire weather and on Sunday cold with wind chills,” she said.
Meantime, in Southern Colorado, wildfire smoke from a massive wildfire in Nebraska is causing hazy skies across Pueblo County.
In December, during the last extensive Public Safety Power Shutoff in the Foothills, thousands of residents were without power for days. Many filed complaints about the outages and their impact on their personal lives and businesses. State regulators are pushing Xcel to upgrade its grid and make it more fire resistant.
