On Thursday night, record breaking wind gusts were recorded on Monarch Pass, according to an article published in the Denver Post. The weather station, located at the top of Monarch Pass recorded a gust of wind that registered at 148 miles per hour- making it the highest recorded wind speed in Colorado by the National Weather Service. The high speed winds at the pass summit, broke the previous record of 147 miles per hour from a sensor at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) located in Boulder CO. That record was set back in January of 1971. The sensor, which is placed on the east side of the summit at about 12,030 feet had some technical difficulties on Thursday night and eventually stopped recording measurements due to broken heating elements in the equipment. However, the wind speed measurement was deemed true by the Colorado Division of Aeronautics and the National Weather Service – allowing Monarch to take the record from Boulder after over 40 years. Congratulations Monarch Pass- hold your record proudly!
The winds on Monarch must have eventually calmed down, as a heavy snow storm just passed through last night, leaving 17 inches of fresh powder at the Monarch Mountain resort. The resort was reporting a 72 inch base and powder conditions this morning.
