Wind Storm Threatens NTP Timing in Boulder

A Severe Storm Endangers a Crucial Atomic Clock for the Internet

On December 17, 2025, Colorado experienced an extremely violent wind storm, with gusts exceeding 160 km/h (approximately 100 mph). The storm generated panic and disrupted local infrastructure, prompting Xcel Energy to cut off electricity for hundreds of thousands of customers.

This power outage had a significant impact on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, which houses a highly precise atomic clock. During the outage, backup generators were activated, but one of them failed, raising concerns about the reliability of NTP sources in Boulder.

Despite these challenges, power was restored on December 21, and the main clock had a deviation of only a few microseconds, which is acceptable for NTP monitoring that requires precision within milliseconds. However, a complete failure would have caused major issues for many websites, as clock synchronization is crucial for data security and HTTPS encryption.

This situation underscored the importance of redundant time synchronization systems within internet infrastructure, demonstrating how vulnerable this essential technology can be.