Most of Colorado’s Eastern Plains and the Front Range are under heightened fire danger for most of Monday — with wind gusts reaching up to 60 miles per hour and humidity levels remaining critically low.
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for those areas — meaning the weather conditions are extremely favorable for wildfires to ignite and spread quickly. The warning is in effect until 6 p.m.
Strong wind gusts are expected to continue throughout the afternoon “with winds weakening after sunset,” according to Russell Dannielson, a meteorologist with the NWS in Boulder.
The warning comes during a stretch of dry weather across eastern Colorado, where vegetation has dried out after a warm, windy fall — creating ideal fuel for fast-moving fires. Dannielson said this is the first Red Flag Warning issued this month.
The last time Colorado faced high gusts of winds during this time of year was October 2020 during the East Troublesome Fire, which quickly grew through much of Grand County. It claimed two lives and destroyed more than 500 structures after more than a month of burning.
While Xcel Energy does not anticipate any planned power shutoffs during the high wind warnings, the utility giant cautioned in a press release that strong gusts could still cause unplanned outages. The company serves approximately 1.6 million electric customers in Colorado.
A spokesperson with Denver’s emergency management office said they are not aware of any current outages as of Monday morning.
Despite the high winds and elevated fire risk, Denver International Airport is operating normally, with no reported delays or flight cancellations.
“We are always preparing for mitigating fire risk,” Michael Konopasek, a spokesperson for DIA, told CPR News.
In contrast to the dry and windy conditions on the plains, snow is expected in the Western Slope mountains along the I-70 corridor.
