Category: Fire Weather (Page 3 of 24)

August 2024 Graphical Weather Review: A surprising late-season surge in the monsoon brought slight drought improvement to the Front Range

August brought welcomed change to the Front Range with the elusive American Southwest Monsoon finally making a late appearance. While much of the area ended with below normal rainfall in August, it was notably wetter than months prior leading to a slight improvement in the regional drought. It was also hot in August, with overall temperatures and the number of 90-degree days landing above normal. Here’s a quick and colorful graphical recap of our weather during August and how it relates to climatology.

Continue reading

This Week in Colorado Weather: September 3, 2024

September is finally upon us — what a great time of the year this is in Colorado! Mother Nature will deliver rather varied weather this week in the Front Range. Hot temperatures and high pressure will give way to a Pacific trough by midweek. Clouds will be on the increase alongside the risk of severe thunderstorms for Wednesday, with even a touch of snow in our highest elevations. Things will clear out nicely for the upcoming weekend leading to gorgeous and seasonal late-summer conditions. Read on for all the details.

Continue reading

July 2024 Graphical Weather Review: After months of extremely dry weather, it was inevitable that wildfires would ignite across the Front Range

After three months with barely any rainfall, our parched vegetation unfortunately ignited at the end of July with several large wildfires taking off in the Front Range burning more than 12,000 acres combined. Unsurprisingly, drought further expanded in July and numerous jurisdictions enacting fire bans. Overall temperatures during the month were close to normal following several periods of ups and downs. Here’s a quick and colorful graphical recap of our weather during July and how it relates to climatology.

Continue reading

This Week in Colorado Weather: August 5, 2024

Our scorching hot, two-week-long heatwave will finally come to an end later this week, but not before we endure a few more days. A cold front is slated to arrive into the Denver area late Wednesday finally knocking us out of the 90s. This front will also come with an enhanced chance of rainfall, though monsoon moisture is still largely lacking. Despite daily chances for rain this week, our existing fires will continue to smolder and the risk of new fire ignitions remains uncomfortably high.

Continue reading

Heatwave & Wildfire Update: Exceptionally hot, dry and smoky conditions will remain across the Front Range at least through Monday with slow fire growth

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.

Continue reading

This Week in Colorado Weather: July 22, 2024

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!

Continue reading

Heatwave Update: The Front Range will sizzle this weekend, possibly reaching 100°+ three or four days in a row!

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.

Continue reading

« Older posts Newer posts »