A fast moving cold front helped to energize thunderstorms across Colorado on Wednesday with pockets of heavy rain, large hail and damaging wind gusts.

The severe storms produced strong wind gust from Denver out across the eastern plains. Heavy areas of rain really bogged down the afternoon commute along I-70 west and I-25 north of Downtown Denver.

 Outflow winds near Denver International Airport reached 60 mph ! This prompted the issuance of a Severe T-storm Warning for Denver and parts of Adams county for strong winds and hail. There was a ground stop for over an hour because of the storms. Dozens of damaging wind reports popped up across the eastern plains with wind gusts noted from 50 to 79 mph!

Gusty winds were the number one issue of the day with the combination of strong upper level winds, the passage of a cold front and outflow winds caused by thunderstorms. In addition to 60 mph wind gusts in Denver, some gusts farther east were running 60 to 79 mph hour! 70 mph wind gusts near Brush were strong enough to knock over powerlines and break 3 inch diameter tree limbs!

Hail the size of quarters fell in parts of Erie and Fredrick with marble sized hail in Arvada and Wheat Ridge.