July 4th all but cancelled

As I mentioned in my last post, it’s been pretty darn quiet around here, weather-wise. The only exception being the thunderstorms we had several weeks back that sparked multiple fires. You may have come across at least one HELP COLORADO meme, and if not, well, one news reporter commented “the whole state is on fire.” And it felt like it was.

The second largest fire in Colorado history sparked up near Ft. Collins and is, as far as I know, still burning. I say as far as I know, because wet thunderstorms have been blowing through the area for days. The High Park Fire was started by lightning, and was blown out of control for weeks due to thunderstorms bringing only wind and more lightning.

As officers were fighting that firestorm, another started down by Colorado Springs. It was being fought for several days until another windy storm blew through and sent the fire blazing out of control and into the western suburbs of the Springs. Have you seen Steve Moraco’s time lapse video of it yet? It’s beautiful and absolutely heart-wrenching.

Denver was pretty much the only city in Colorado not dealing with nearby fires, and did have a fireworks display. The air quality was so awful I didn’t even bother. Just to give you an example of how dry it’s been here, a grass fire sparked out by Last Chance a few weeks ago and quickly became the 4th largest fire in Colorado history.

It’s a dry, hot summer here, and at the moment I’m okay with not chasing storms. I’d hate to see a fire start. Fortunately, monsoon season has started and we’ve had three days straight of rain, and more expected in the forecast. It was even in the mid-70s, making it a perfectly pleasant weekend. Hopefully the weather stays that way for at least a few more days.