‘What a disaster!’

If you experienced damage from high winds on Saturday, June 6, you’re not alone. So did much of Colorado and several other states.

The 80-mph wind gusts experienced in Phillips County were part of a rare weather event called a derecho.

Originating from the Spanish word meaning “straight,” a derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service. Although a derecho can produce destruction similar to the strength of tornadoes, the damage typically is directed in one direction along a relatively straight swath.

By definition, if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph or greater along most of its length, then the event may be classified as a derecho.

A map from the NWS shows that the eastern edge of Colorado is likely to experience one derecho every four years.

What makes Saturday’s derecho so rare is that it originated west of the Rocky Mountains. It began Saturday morning in Utah, crossed the Continental Divide and ended in North Dakota early Sunday morning.

The top of Colorado’s Winter Park ski area clocked wind gusts of 110 mph, which is just shy of the winds experienced in a category 3 hurricane.

“What a disaster,” said Reed Jablonski of Jablonski Diversified while assessing the damage on Monday, June 8.

The Jablonski building west of Paoli on Highway 6 completely collapsed during the windstorm Saturday evening. And unfortunately, the 60-by-84-foot wood and metal structure was only 1 year old.

Jablonski said there was a large garage door on the south side of the building and it was most likely “the weakest link” in Saturday’s scenario. People normally construct buildings keeping in mind winds that come from the north, he said, but Saturday’s 80-mph winds came from the south.

The Channel Seed dealer said there was about a half a million dollars worth of seed inside the building, along with a pickup, fertilizer tanks, a seed tender and more. He wouldn’t know what was salvageable until the roof, which was sitting at ground level, could be moved.

Debris had already been cleared from the nearby railroad and Highway 6, which was closed for a time on Saturday night.

Among the widespread damage in the Paoli area, two big evergreen trees were completely uprooted at the Edwards house just south of town.

Eight miles northwest of Holyoke, the Zillas reported damage to an 80-by-50-foot barn they were in the process of building. Beth Zilla said they were home at the time, and there was no mistaking the loud bang when the wind ripped off the barn’s roof and sent it flying.

Rance Ferguson of Highline Electric Association said that flying debris was the reason some of HEA’s poles had broken. As of Monday morning, there were 53 broken poles in HEA’s service territory, with most of them located north and west of Holyoke.