Is it unusually hot in Colorado?

[malaise]

This is a huge fire- folks have lost everything-over 500 homes completely destroyed, including entire sub-divisions, but so far no fatalities. Spare a thought for these folks.


Adding link
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216198867

[JanMichael]

1. I don't know that for a fact but I used to live there and it is always been dry

And when I say dry I mean really dry. So even less rain or snow year before can lead to very combustive conditions.

[malaise]

2. Thanks

I’m clueless.

[uncle ray]

3. it's very dry.

we've been unseasonably warm too, but yesterday was not too exceptionally hot, 40's. everything is bone dry, combined with 100+ mph winds...


ironically, its the approaching cold front/winter storm that drove the high winds. it's expected to snow here on the front range later today.

[malaise]

7. Heavy wind and very dry

[haele]

4. Unusually dry with high winds.

This time of year there's typically snow or at least rain. When It's dry and100mph winds knock down power lines, there's going to be wild fires in all that dry high grasslands.

Haele

[malaise]

8. What a horrific start to a new year

[maxsolomon]

5. Fires started by downed power lines I read.

100 mph winds.

[Sympthsical]

6. Bad drought after a wet spring

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/31/1069416715/colorado-marshall-fire-caused-by-high-winds-drought

The wet spring made for tons of grasses to grow. Then they all dried out over summer and fall, leading to this.

Can be a problem in California, too. We get a really wet winter or spring and get all excited for the precipitation. Then come summer and fall, it all dries out. You look at the hills, and they look like brown wheat fields and you think, "Uh oh."

[malaise]

9. Frightening

[dalton99a]

10. 80% of Colorado's water falls and flows west of the Continental Divide

while 80% of the population live east of the Divide

[malaise]

12. How does that make sense.

Damn!

[Dial H For Hero]

17. The front range cities just to the east of the Rocky Mountains started springing up in the 1850's.

Just imagine settlers deciding where to live after being told that they could either stop just before they reached the Rockies, or keep going over the highest mountain range in North America.

[malaise]

19. OK I get it

I too would have serttled.

[triron]

11. Dry like New Mexico as well. Very little snow in the mountain ski areas this winter so far.

I blame global warming.

[Dial H For Hero]

13. It was a combination of dry conditions and extremely high winds which knocked down power lines,

starting grass fires. At the moment, in Littleton (a suburb west of Denver) it's 33 degrees, with 5 to 10 inches of snowfall in the forecast.

[malaise]

14. Thanks

[hlthe2b]

15. No. We have 110 mph winds, record drought, no snow along front range in unheard of number months.

7-10 inches of snow on the way today--ironically a day too late to have prevented this devastation.

Though everyone in MSM is terming these "wildfires," they were actually grassfires that raged after record winds toppled power lines, igniting the dry grassland. In truth, this could happen ANYWHERE under similar circumstances. Sadly, it hit a highly developed and populated are with little that could be done once these fires ignited.

[malaise]

16. Stay safe

[gldstwmn]

18. It was 49 degrees yesterday. We had some 60 degree temps in

the last couple of weeks. This area has always been windy. It's how the city of Broomfield got its name. But yesterday the sky was blue but we were having 100 MPH wind gusts. My neighborhood has underground power lines but some of the neighborhoods to the north of me do not. A power line went down and sparked and since we have been in quite a drought with almost no snow it caught fire. This area has neighborhoods that are surrounded by open space with lakes and reservoirs and lots of hiking and biking trails. It is so beautiful. We were under pre evacuation orders until midnight last night. I can smell and taste fire. The area to the north of me is smoldering.
This is climate change. Normally we would have had snow by Halloween but we did not. So this is the new reality we are going to have to face if we want to continue to live here.

[malaise]

20. Thanks

Now I understand