Between the extreme heat, thick smoke and new wildfire ignitions, this week has been quite the disaster in the Front Range! Our fuels have been primed for weeks now and our team has been vocal regarding this inevitable outcome, but things unravelled much quicker than even we expected this week with something like ten wildland fires in the Front Range just since Monday, in total burning more than 9,000 acres of forest! The weekend unfortunately won’t offer much reprieve from the heat, fire or drought, but we are tracking a potential shift next week towards wetter and cooler conditions. We provide an update on the local fires, the ongoing heatwave, the widespread smoke, and when actual raindrops may return to the forecast.
Category: Fire Weather (Page 3 of 24)
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After a cool and unsettled past several days, the week ahead turns much drier, notably hotter, and quite hazy with Canadian wildfire smoke engulfing the Front Range. Rain chances will be limited through the week as the monsoon stays largely suppressed. We will return to the 90s as early as Tuesday, perhaps nearing 100 degrees by week’s end. When is our best chance of rain, how hot will it get and when will our air quality finally improve? Let’s take a look!
An impending pattern shift is expected to bring record-breaking triple-digit temperatures to the Front Range this weekend. This latest round of extreme heat is due to a superheated airmass moving into Colorado from the Desert, an airmass which has already produced all-time record highs in other western states. We review the climatology for rare triple digit heat, discuss why Denver is often several degrees warmer than Boulder during the summer, go over the forecast for just how hot it will get this weekend and look ahead to when we may finally cool off.
The North American Monsoon is responsible for pumping subtropical moisture into the southwestern United States every summer, moisture which ultimately supplies the fuel for Colorado’s daily summertime thunderstorms — rain we desperately need in the Front Range right now following months scarce precipitation and worsening drought. However, the arrival and intensity of the summer monsoon varies substantially from year to year, especially in our area. In this long-range outlook, we discuss the developing dire drought situation, the current state of the monsoon, what’s happening with El Niño, and what to expect for weather in the coming months across Front Range Colorado.
Following right in the footsteps of May, June was another incredibly dry month across much of the Front Range, concluding as Boulder’s driest June in exactly 100 years. As a result, drought has returned to the area, including both Boulder and Denver. June also landed as one of the hottest on record for many Colorado cities. Here’s a quick and colorful graphical recap of our weather during June and how it relates to climatology.
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This week’s weather in the Front Range will feature a welcomed northwest flow pattern, one which will usher in cooler temperatures but unfortunately little in the way of rainfall as the monsoon remains at bay. Several disturbances will be tracking across northern Colorado but will have extremely limited moisture to work with resulting in most areas staying nearly bone-dry this week. While not good at all for the ongoing drought, this setup will allow for cool and beautiful conditions for the Fourth of July — just be mindful that fire danger is growing. Read on for all the details.
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