Fire Danger Returns As Colorado Stays In Dry Pattern
Warmer than normal conditions continue into the weekend. A Fire Weather Watch has been posted for parts of southern Colorado from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Low relative humidity, gusty winds, and dry vegetation prompted the Watch as fire danger remains high.
Southern El Paso, Pueblo, Huerfano, Las Animas, Crowley, and Otero Counties will have gusty winds to 35 mph with humidity around 10 percent. If a wildfire starts it will likely spread very quickly.
Although the Denver metro area and northeastern plains are not included in the Watch we could still have brush fires in the coming days. The pattern stays dry through the weekend with temperatures near 70 degrees on Saturday — that's 20 degrees above average for late February.
A trough in the jet stream skims eastern Colorado next Monday night. Denver only has a slight chance of rain and snow with this passing system, hopefully just enough to get some moisture back on the ground.
Justin McHeffey provides nightly reports from the Mobile Weather Lab. He travels Colorado in search of Mother Nature's most powerful and beautiful conditions. Like his Facebook page Meteorologist Justin McHeffey and follow him on Twitter @WeatherMcHeffey.
