The foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the Laramie Mountains should be a wintry paradise in mid-December. But a prolonged stretch of dry and unseasonably warm temperatures, combined with storms that bring lashing wind but no snow, has turned much of Colorado and Wyoming into a Christmastime tinder box.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service issued a dire warning in effect through late Friday, saying the weather conditions — a potent combination of wind gusts that could reach close to 100 miles per hour and humidity levels likely to drop into the teens or lower — would create a “particularly dangerous situation,” increasing the odds for rapidly spreading wildfires as dangerous winds shoot down mountainsides.
A “particularly dangerous situation” designation is a type of warning that the Weather Service uses only rarely when especially extreme conditions are forecast. One was issued in Los Angeles before devastating wildfires killed more than 30 people in January, and also for parts of the South in the spring before tornadoes left at least two dozen people dead.
The fire risk on Friday was spread across a large portion of the Great Plains, but the greatest threat fell within an area of southeast Wyoming, west Nebraska and northeast Colorado — with the most extreme conditions between Cheyenne and Boulder.
Warnings for high winds and fire risk have been present for much of this week across the region. Wind storms on Wednesday lashed Boulder, Fort Collins and other cities across metropolitan Denver, and in the foothills they snapped trees, toppled power poles and knocked out power to more than 100,000 people.
Power had still not been restored for many people by 8 a.m. Friday morning, when Xcel Energy imposed another round of blackouts that cut off power to more than 100,000 people across Colorado to reduce the risk that live power lines could start a wildfire.
So far, there have not been any destructive wildfires in the hills. But several wind-driven wildfires late on Wednesday night burned at least 14,000 acres across Yuma County, a farming community on Colorado’s eastern plains.
The winds fanned a landscape that was already dry because the region had received little snow so far this season. Colby Goatley, a meteorologist with the Weather Service office in Cheyenne, said the storms had brought snow to the north, to states such as Montana and the Dakotas, but little precipitation farther south to Colorado and Wyoming.
Moisture-starved vegetation, strong winds and dry air are the key ingredients that can lead to destructive wildfires. When a spark of fire enters the mix, it’s a recipe for disaster.
This happened in December 2021 during the deadly wind-whipped Marshall fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes and tore through the Denver suburbs of Louisville and Superior.
Patrick Marsh, with the Storm Prediction Center, said that weather similar to what occurred four years ago was unfolding on Friday.
“It doesn’t mean the Marshall fire is going to happen, but the conditions are there,” Mr. Marsh said.
The winds picked up overnight on the higher peaks of the mountains, and by early Friday morning, they were tumbling down to lower elevations.
“By midmorning to early afternoon is when places like Boulder, Colo., will see winds pick up,” Mr. Marsh said.
As the day progresses, the winds are expected to spread across the Colorado plains.
The blustery weather will dry out the air and push down humidity levels.
Forecasters with the Weather Service office in Denver said the most extreme conditions were expected to continue through midnight in the foothills of Boulder and Jefferson Counties. Gusts up to 100 miles per hour are possible from the Highway 93 corridor into the foothills.
Just after 7 a.m., Mr. Goatley said that winds in the Cheyenne region had picked up in the last hour.
“Moving ahead, we’ll expect the strongest winds now through the beginning of the afternoon,” he said, “but widespread strong winds will remain through the evening hours and then slowly lessen across the region overnight into Saturday morning.”
Jack Healy is based in Colorado and covers the west and southwest.
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