I woke up on Saturday, May 21 to the most beautiful sight – SNOW! It is always hit and miss from the local weather forecast when you live between two mountain ranges. We are told snow and get nothing, a couple inches forecast and we get 10. The town northeast of us forecast about 4-6 inches, south of us around 8 inches. By the end of the day, we had over 20” of snow in the valley. This morning it is flurrying again. We haven’t been able to see the mountains (East Slope Sangre de Cristos) and lower hills for 2 days now. I hope the mountains are getting pounded with snow.
Growing up my fireman father taught me to respect fires and always be aware of your surroundings and escape routes. When we decided to retire in rural Colorado our criteria contained a few things items. Where were the closest fire stations (we have two within 15 miles - a rarity in rural mountain areas, have at least 3 ways out, stay away from property surrounded by trees, especially close to the house, and a vehicle that can go over tough terrain. This year I am glad for his wisdom that guided us when buying property.
December 2021 ended the year with the start of the Marshall file in Boulder County which finally was contained in the new year – killed 2 people and destroyed 1084 structures. Rebuilding will be long and painful in today’s high building costs and housing shortages. There was another fire in Boulder, the NCAR Fire in late March. Smaller fires have continued since then. Normally fire season starts around June.
The on-going fire in New Mexico has affected many of our friends in the area where over 303,000 acres have burned. One of the fires started from a proscribed burn and now it is just devastating rural communities and ancestral homes.
On Easter Sunday a fire broke out in the Wet Mountain Valley about 8 miles from our house. A couple days before an electrical fire hit Silver Cliffe. The high winds and drought conditions have kept us in Red Flag warning for months now. The smell of smoke puts you on alert.
My county and the one next door are categorized as both D2 – Severe and D3 extreme drought. In fact, half of Colorado remains under severe drought classification. The snow pack on the mountains melted early due to the unseasonable high temperatures this spring. We have been a spark waiting to be lit.
Just the other week four different fires broke out in the Colorado Springs area. Cripple Creek area was threatened by the High Park Fire, Simms fire broke out near Montrose on May 20th, the Great Sand Dunes National Park had a ‘brief’ fire and the Plumtaw fire has been burning close to our favorite hot springs’ town, Pagosa Springs. Each day lately it seemed as if another fire was reported.
So, we are celebrating the snow, knowing it will help with the drought conditions and possibly prevent more fires. May everyone else out here in the Southwest be so lucky.