A sweaty string of 90-degree days – which today could tie an early-summer record set a half-century ago – has experts worried about how the heat is adding fuel to wildfire conditions.
“These 90-degree days are continuing to dry things out and are creating critical fire conditions,” said Bob Leaverton, supervisor of the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.
Living and dead tree moisture levels are dropping, and the weak grass green-up is fading to brown, conditions that challenge levels seen in 2002, Colorado’s worst fire season.
The Hayman fire, a 138,000- acre monster, ignited four years ago today and raced through 18 miles of tinder-dry forest the next day.
“We’re setting new records,” said Rocco Snart, fire-mitigation specialist for Jefferson County.
For example, the “energy release component” was in the 90th to 95th percentile range between May 1 and June 1, which means “we have an extremely high probability for large fire growth” if a blaze starts, said Scott Woods of the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.
So far in June, temperatures have been 10 or more degrees above normal – and more hot weather is forecast.
The record for 90-plus days early in the season was seven in a row, set in June 1952.
During the latest hot streak, a new high-temperature record was set for June 3 in Denver on Saturday with 94 degrees, and two days – Tuesday and Wednesday – tied records of 95 and 98 degrees, respectively.
Today’s metro-area high is predicted to be again in the mid-90s with a “cool-down” into the upper 80s and lower 90s through next week.
Moisture also has been in short supply.
“May is the wettest month, but we missed out,” said Kyle Fredin, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “We also missed out in April, which is one of our snowiest months. We’re hurtin’.”
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said Wednesday that he and U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, have asked a Senate Appropriations subcommittee for $10 million to help rural firefighters prepare to fight forest fires.
Aurora Water urges users to conserve
Aurora Water on Wednesday asked its customers to conserve by at least 10 percent while sticking to a three-day-a-week watering schedule. Since May 1, the city’s reservoirs have gained less than
5 percent capacity because of hot, dry, windy conditions.
Water use in May was up more than 30 percent from the same month last year.
