![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_9110.jpeg\")
Emergency vehicles respond in downtown Boulder as powerful winds caused widespread damage and power outages on Dec. 17, 2025. Credit: Boulder Reporting Lab<\/p>\nThousands of Boulder County residents were without electricity Wednesday evening as powerful downslope winds battered the Front Range, toppling trees and knocking out traffic signals, after Xcel Energy implemented a planned public safety power shutoff. The shutoff is meant to reduce the risk that energized power lines could spark and ignite a fast-moving wildfire during extreme wind conditions. The utility warned that another shutoff could come as soon as Friday.<\/p>\n
Walking through parts of Boulder in the early evening, entire blocks were dark. Along Spruce Street and in the Mapleton Hill area, streetlights were out, sirens echoed through neighborhoods, and emergency vehicles moved through streets littered with downed branches. Fire trucks and ambulances passed through intersections where traffic signals were inoperable, and sidewalks were partially blocked by debris.<\/p>\n
Listening to Boulder Fire-Rescue radio traffic throughout the afternoon and evening painted a similar picture across the county, with reports of fallen trees blocking entrances, branches down across roads and emergency crews responding amid the steady background of sirens.<\/p>\n
As of 9 p.m., Xcel said the planned public safety power shutoff affected about 50,000 customers across Boulder, Clear Creek, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld counties. Across the Front Range, about 68,500 additional customers lost power as a result of Xcel\u2019s enhanced powerline safety settings, which shut off additional lines outside the planned outage areas. Xcel said crews and contractors positioned along the Front Range had begun restoration work where conditions allow.<\/p>\n
Emergency vehicles respond in downtown Boulder as powerful winds caused widespread damage and power outages on Dec. 17, 2025. Credit: Boulder Reporting Lab<\/p>\n
When those enhanced settings trigger an outage, power does not automatically return. Crews must first inspect lines before restoring power, which can extend outages even after weather conditions improve.<\/p>\n
Xcel said restoration from a widespread shutoff and severe wind damage is expected to take several hours to several days, depending on weather conditions and the extent of damage found during inspections.<\/p>\n
Xcel also cautioned Wednesday night that its outage maps do not tell the full story.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re checking the outage map, the number of outages does not reflect the customers in the public safety power shutoff,\u201d Xcel spokesperson Michelle Aguayo told Boulder Reporting Lab. \u201cNumbers will fluctuate as crews begin patrolling lines and work to restore service. I am not able to estimate restoration times yet. We still have to see what kind of damage we\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boulder\u2019s Office of Disaster Management said just after 8 p.m. that thousands remained without power, with only limited restoration so far. Mountain communities, South Boulder, Mapleton Hill and West Pearl were expected to remain without electricity at least through the night.<\/p>\n
Officials warned that travel remained hazardous, with significant debris on roads, including downed tree limbs and some power lines, and many traffic signals out. Residents were urged to avoid unnecessary travel during the wind event.<\/p>\n
The extreme conditions set records. BoulderCAST reported a new all-time wind gust of 87.5 mph at Boulder Municipal Airport, based on data available since 2010. At NCAR\u2019s Foothills Lab in east Boulder, winds peaked at 76 mph before the facility lost power. The Colorado Department of Transportation closed several highways due to high winds, including Highway 93 from Golden to Eldorado Springs, Highway 128 from Indiana Street to Highway 93, and U.S. 36 north of Boulder to Lyons. Scattered rain moved into the Boulder and Denver area later Wednesday night, after the strongest winds had passed.<\/p>\n
While wind conditions improved Wednesday evening, Xcel warned that high winds and low humidity could return Friday, raising wildfire risk and the possibility of another public safety power shutoff as early as 5 a.m. Friday, Dec. 19. The utility has published a map showing areas that could be affected and urged customers to prepare now, warning that some communities could be without power for more than three days if severe weather overlaps.<\/p>\n
BoulderCAST also warned that conditions forecast for Friday look \u201cvery similar\u201d to Wednesday\u2019s event, calling Boulder \u201cat ground zero again\u201d as high winds and low humidity are expected to return.<\/p>\n
The outages disrupted schools and campus operations. CU Boulder canceled classes Wednesday and said the campus will reopen at 10 a.m. Thursday, encouraging employees to work remotely where possible and warning that some buildings may remain without power. As of 6 p.m., multiple facilities, including Williams Village and several science buildings, were without electricity, and part of the main campus remained within Xcel\u2019s proactive outage area. <\/p>\n Boulder Valley School District did not cancel school Wednesday but is closing all schools on Thursday due to outages.<\/p>\n This week\u2019s shutoff is not Boulder\u2019s first. In April 2024, Xcel cut power to about 55,000 Boulder County customers<\/a> with little notice, triggering widespread confusion among residents, businesses and local governments. Critical facilities, including assisted living centers, scrambled to respond, and city officials struggled to determine which parts of the grid were affected.<\/p>\n Emails later obtained by Boulder Reporting Lab revealed that Boulder\u2019s wastewater treatment plant came within minutes of spilling untreated sewage into Boulder Creek after both substations serving the facility unexpectedly lost power. The outage lasted nearly three days for some customers and cost Boulder businesses an estimated $1.4 million in losses. In the aftermath, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission opened an investigation into Xcel\u2019s handling of the shutoff, citing communication failures and inadequate coordination with emergency services.<\/p>\n In response to that criticism, Xcel established new protocols for wildfire safety shutoffs<\/a> and said it began coordinating with emergency managers and operators of critical facilities days in advance of this week\u2019s event. Frasier Meadows, a Boulder senior living community that was caught off guard in April 2024, said the earlier communication made a significant difference.<\/p>\n During last year\u2019s outage, staff learned of the shutoff from residents and had just over an hour to prepare, according to Julie Soltis, the facility\u2019s director of communications. This time, Soltis said, an Xcel representative reached out three days in advance. \u201cThe multiple-day notice has been very beneficial,\u201d she said. Frasier Meadows tested its five backup generators on Dec. 16 to ensure medical equipment and most food services could operate if needed.<\/p>\n Some business owners remain critical of Xcel\u2019s reliance on power shutoffs as a wildfire prevention tool. Dave Query, owner of the Big Red F Restaurant Group, which includes Centro and the Velvet Elk, pushed back in a letter sent Tuesday to local legislators and Gov. Jared Polis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will not have wildfires instigated from blown-down power lines when these high-wire lines don\u2019t exist because they\u2019re all underground,\u201d Query wrote.<\/p>\n The wind-driven shutoffs comes nearly four years after the Marshall Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, which killed two people and destroyed or damaged about 1,000 homes. Xcel and two telecommunications companies have agreed to pay $640 million to settle lawsuits alleging utility equipment sparked one of the fires that merged into the Marshall Fire. Xcel is also facing lawsuits in Texas related to the 2024 Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest wildfire in Texas history.<\/p>\n Boulder officials urged residents to lean on neighbors, prepare emergency kits with battery-powered lighting, reduce fire-risk activities, and check on older adults and others who may need assistance. More information is available at boulderodm.gov, and customers can check the Xcel Energy outage map for updates<\/a>. To sign up for emergency alerts, visit bocoalert.org<\/a> or download the ReachWell app<\/a> to receive alerts in other languages.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of Boulder County residents were without electricity Wednesday evening as powerful downslope winds battered the Front Range,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453,175717],"class_list":{"0":"post-355551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topstories","14":"tag-xcel-power-outage-2025"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-17-212341-e1766033207806-1024x843.png\")
<\/a>Xcel Energy\u2019s outage map, published Wednesday, Dec. 17, shows areas currently affected by a public safety power shutoff in yellow and purple stripes, along with purple-shaded areas that are under watch for a possible additional shutoff on Friday, Dec. 19.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_9114.jpeg\")
Xcel Energy repair vehicles are staged in Boulder\u2019s Whittier neighborhood as Xcel crews work to assess damage and restore power following the Dec. 17, 2025, wind event. Credit: Boulder Reporting Lab<\/p>\n