Colorado Burning

Colorado is on fire.  Little rain, high winds and hot temperatures have turned the largely wooded state into kindling for some tremendous blazes.  Fires happen every year in the west.  This season is leaving a mark in a big and disastrous way.

There are not a lot of weather related pictures anymore that shock me.  However, I believe my exact words aloud after seeing this one was holy shit.

While we moan and make a big deal out of potentially three straight days of 90's, people in Colorado are dealing with this.  We aren't talking about a few homes in remote areas succumbing to the fire.  Now we are hitting neighborhoods.  Ones that were not prepared either for how quickly the fire moved over the mountain and down towards the valley of Colorado Springs.  And all this started because of lightning.

The area will continue to deal with hot temperatures and little if any needed rain.  Of course like all weather, this pattern will eventually change giving firefighters some need relief in their efforts to contain the fires.  Until then we continue to get images like the ones below all of the same fire creeping towards residential areas.

View of the hills from Colorado Springs

Don't see or care to see that everyday

View from the Air Force Academy which has been evacuated

 
One common misconception about a place like Colorado is many people tend to think about places like Denver (mile high) and Aspen or the Rocky mountains and think cold and snowy.  Certainly the ski resorts see their share of powder and cool temps, but many of the major cities sit at lower altitudes directly east of the mountains heading towards the heart of the plains.  In other words, little rainfall due to the shield from the mountains and temps often above what many would expect due to a southern flow.

Here is a little comparison. 

Average Precip:

City 1:  15 inches
City 2:  17 inches
City 3:  45 inches

Average January High:

City 1:  45 degrees
City 2:  49 degrees
City 3:  36 degrees

Average July High:

City 1:  89 degrees
City 2:  88 degrees
City 3:  84 degrees

Average High:

City 1:  65
City 2:  66
City 3:  61


The first city on the list is Denver.  The second city is Madrid, Spain.  The third city is Allentown.  Obviously these are a few examples only to illustrate a point that besides a snowier winter, Denver resembles a climate of cities you would not expect.  And with Madrid's elevation being a few thousand feet as well, it became a good comparison.  Denver is like the Seattle of the Rocky Mountains.  Let everybody think the weather is bad, that way less people will be inclined to move to town.

Unfortunately the weather in Denver is playing out like the averages listed above.  Not including today, Denver has been at least 95 8 of the last 10 days with four being over 100.  They've received .26 inches of rain for the entire month.  The 10 day forecast shows two days below 90 (88 and 89) and virtually no shot of rain.

Who knows what these areas of Colorado will look like tomorrow morning.  Nobody expected to see pictures like the ones that have come out today from neighborhoods west of Colorado Springs.  You can't predict fire.

There are far more details and pictures over at the Denver Post if you are interested in seeing what the people of these communities are battling.  Hopefully it will end shortly.

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