Southwest Colorado’s HOT & DRY weather plus extreme drought, creates a Critical Fire Environment!
San Juan National Forest personnel contacted us this afternoon and let us know that the Forest will be under Stage I Fire Restrictions for all of San Juan National Forest starting the 16th at 1201am! That’s midnight TONIGHT!
“Activities prohibited under Stage I restrictions include igniting, building, maintaining, or using a fire (even with charcoal) outside of a permanent metal or concrete fire pit or grate that the Forest Service has installed at its developed recreation sites. The minimum fine for this violation is now $500.
See the full Stage I order and all prohibited activities here: https://tinyurl.com/pm5nhmyv
See the full news release here: https://tinyurl.com/8fxvw29v”
Thunderstorms!
We have a few isolated thunderstorms happening right now just about 12 miles northwest of downtown. Hoping lightning doesn’t ignite anything.
We are under high pressure. But it flattened a little bit today and is allowing some moisture to sneak in around the edges. The high pressure was not enough to suppress all thunderstorms. The mountains and areas to the northwest might see a few isolated thunderstorms and showers with small hail and gusty winds till the sun goes down.
It was another warm day.
The airfield hit 92 degrees today. We saw a high of 88 degrees 7 miles north of Pagosa in O’Neal Park.
Wednesday through Sunday…
Shawn’s forecast for the rest of the week still looks good. Our giant blocking high pressure will move very slowly southwest and start weakening. Precipitable water and instability will gradually increase leading to a slight chance for an afternoon shower or thunderstorm on Wednesday and Thursday and then a better chance on Friday and Saturday. Showers will be few and far between, but it’s nice to have a shot. Sadly, because we’re so dry, they might produce more wind and lightning than rain. We’ll also continue to see periods of smoke. Temps will start to cool a couple of degrees each day starting Thursday.
I’ll have a monsoon outlook posted next week giving us an idea as to when we can see real relief and how much from the heat and dry conditions.
We’ll start a new weather contest based on the amount of monsoonal moisture!
Please be careful out there, folks.
Arleen
2 Responses
You’re most welcome. Keep your fingers crossed that my research shows a very positive outlook!
– Arleen
Thanks for the update Arleen! Looking forward to your monsoon outlook!!