High winds delay mountain schools

Stove Prairie and Red Feather Elementary schools will have a two-hour delayed start today, Wednesday, Feb. 22, due to high winds and blowing snow.

Poudre School District also announced this morning that mountain area buses 4014 and 4018 will be delayed two hours to allow plows to get to roads in daylight hours.

All other buses and all PSD schools were operating on a normal schedule as of 6:30 a.m.

The National Weather Service’s high wind warning will remain in effect for Larimer County throughout Wednesday, until 5 a.m. Thursday. The Weather Service predicts gusts as strong as 80 to 100 miles a hour; a 68 mph gust was reported at Virginia Dale on Tuesday.

The strongest winds will be confined to the eastern slopes of the Front Range mountains and foothills with lighter winds west of the Continental Divide.

US Highway 287 between Ted’s Place and the Wyoming border was open before dawn, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The stretch of road had been closed for several hours due to high winds on Tuesday, but reopened in the afternoon.

Drivers are cautioned to be prepared not only for strong crosswinds in open areas, but also for blowing snow that can cause brief whiteouts with zero visibility.

Poudre Valley REA was not reporting any power outages at 6:30 a.m., while Xcel Energy’s online outage map showed about 150 customers in Boulder County without power. To report an outage, PVREA members should call 800-432-1012.

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