How windy is Denver? (neighborhood, station, rated)

[AZmama13]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Where in the Denver area do you want to move to?

The foothills can get fierce chinooks, like 70-80 mph gusts. There are some isolated cases of gusts over 100 mph that will destroy a bridge, but normally even the chinooks don't go that high.

BUT we had some days and nights with steady winds around 40-50 mph with higher gusts...all night, all day, for two days. The duration of high wind can get to you as much as isolated stronger gusts.

Another thing to consider is how suddenly those gusts can whip up. I was out mtn biking in the evening in perfect calm, when I heard a low, loud moan like a church organ's bass tones all played at once. The sound came from a nearby gully. In seconds, it blasted out of the gully and forced me not only to dismount but to SIT on the ground while holding onto my bike with it flat on the ground. Otherwise, I would have been knocked over and the bike flung somewhere. I have also been out when a gust picked up a 19' kayak left on the ground and sent it flying.

Yikes!! That sounds pretty intense. My husband would be working near DTC, so based on that and wanting great schools we would be looking at the Centennial area (north of 470, along I25-give or take).

I know that nowhere is perfect, just wondering since I hadn't seen much it.

We both grew up in the Midwest with humidity, tornadoes and ice storms so mostly everywhere seems great compared to that!

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by AZmama13

Yikes!! That sounds pretty intense. My husband would be working near DTC, so based on that and wanting great schools we would be looking at the Centennial area (north of 470, along I25-give or take).

I know that nowhere is perfect, just wondering since I hadn't seen much it.

We both grew up in the Midwest with humidity, tornadoes and ice storms so mostly everywhere seems great compared to that!

Expect some days of high wind, but if you grew up in the midwest you will probably tolerate it.

[himain]

I live in the foothills and we do get some serious wind gusts here sometimes.

[jHolman91]

Originally Posted by AZmama13

Thanks guys! Yesterday was exceptionally bad, but spring and fall are just constant wind here. To be honest, the wind bothers me more than the 115 degree summers, so it occurred to me that I hadn't read much about wind in my CO research.

Whatever you do don't go to Kansas, The city I grew up in had wind that during the winter and early spring would blow anywhere between 25-40 mph. with occasional days where spring or summer storms brought 50-70 mph winds. But what made it miserable was that it was always windy and the wind could keep it up for a week or two straight with one or two days of calm before the next wave came.

[AZmama13]

Originally Posted by jHolman91

Whatever you do don't go to Kansas, The city I grew up in had wind that during the winter and early spring would blow anywhere between 25-40 mph. with occasional days where spring or summer storms brought 50-70 mph winds. But what made it miserable was that it was always windy and the wind could keep it up for a week or two straight with one or two days of calm before the next wave came.

Ha! I actually grew up 20 minutes away from the MO/KS border! We didn't have winds like that, just tornadoes every spring/summer.

[pikabike]

I think tornadoes are far worse than straight wind! Sometimes I even have nightmares that involve tornadoes. Maybe I shouldn't have watched The Wizard of Oz as a child.

[twowilldo]

In regard to Denver metro, it seems to be more windy to the northwest of Denver... foothills above Boulder and areas directly affected across the Rocky Flats plateau, to include parts of Arvada and Broomfield. South and east in Denver metro often will only have a light breeze when it is going crazy farther north.

[pikabike]

All of the foothills are in the frontline of chinook strength.

Close to metro Denver, sometimes along Highway 93 is worst, and sometimes along C470 in the SW foothills is worst. Similarly, sometimes there will be snow blasting down either NW or SW, while the other quadrant only gets some edge wind but no precip.

Tip: When the weather forecasters trot out three or more weather models and no two quite match, WATCH OUT.

[twowilldo]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Tip: When the weather forecasters trot out three or more weather models and no two quite match, WATCH OUT.

^^^ This is so spot-on!

So to answer OP's question, yes it can get windy in Denver... by varying degrees.

[AZmama13]

Originally Posted by pikabike

All of the foothills are in the frontline of chinook strength.

Close to metro Denver, sometimes along Highway 93 is worst, and sometimes along C470 in the SW foothills is worst. Similarly, sometimes there will be snow blasting down either NW or SW, while the other quadrant only gets some edge wind but no precip.

Tip: When the weather forecasters trot out three or more weather models and no two quite match, WATCH OUT.

Haha!! This is GREAT! Thanks everyone!