Record early cold blast comes to Rockies, Plains

An early-season cold blast has produced damaging winds all over the West, from 60 mph to as high as 97 mph.

The highest winds were in northern Utah, that's where the 97 wind gust was reported. Also, winds up to 60 to 70 mph were reported in Oregon and Washington, as well as in Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada.

Now the wind event is moving through the immediate West Coast, where winds have been gusting to 61 mph near the San Francisco Bay area.

Most of the immediate West Coast is under the gun Wednesday, for critical fire danger because of the gusty offshore wind and very dry conditions.

Red flag warnings have been issued from the Canadian border in Washington to the Mexican border in southern California.

Also, it's worth watching those Santa Ana winds in southern California, especially Wednesday morning, where they could gust 40 to 50 mph.

A red flag warning and wind advisory have been issued from Los Angeles to San Diego County.

Also, back in the Rockies and the Plains, this cold blast is bringing some of the coldest temps ever recorded this early in the season.

Boulder, Colorado, has already got more than 2 inches of snow and dropped below 32 degrees, both the earliest ever recorded for the season.

And the wind chills are even worse. The wind chill Wednesday morning is just 10 degrees in Wyoming and 19 in Colorado.

Freeze warnings and frost advisories stretch from California to Michigan.

And with the cold comes the snow, where up to 17 inches of snow fell in parts of the Rockies.

More snow is on the way over the next 24 to 26 hours, mostly in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, where some areas could see 6 to 12 inches.