Snow is up but that doesn’t mean the fire danger is down

Snow in the past few days around the state has helped the spring runoff forecast.

The statewide snow pack is at 78 per cent of average and most of our area has seen enough moisture that the drought is gone in El Paso and Teller counties.

Despite the snow, grassland fires are still possible, like the one at the Stratton Open Space a couple of weeks ago.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department says that even with snow, grasses can still dry quickly.

“All it takes is a warm, dry, windy day and you don’t even need to have the snow completely off o0f the ground for those to be susceptible to burning,” said Amy Sylvester, the Wildfire Mitigation Specialist for the Colorado Springs Fire Department.

So far in February Colorado Springs has seen a little bit more than 4″ of snow. That’s less than an inch away from the average for the entire month for the city.