October has started with wild weather
October has seen some large swings in the temperatures and plenty of dry conditions.
One day we’re in record high territory and the next we’re bracing for possible frost.
It’s almost 20 degrees cooler today than it was at this time yesterday. And some people are thrilled about it.
Yevgeniy Lempert is one of those people. He said, “The colder the better. When it’s cold you can put on more layers,”
While others wouldn’t mind if the recent warm stretch kept going.
“The last week it seems like it’s been pretty nice,” said Kirk Reichelt of Colorado Springs.
It’s part of an October weather roller coaster.
When you look at the temperatures over the last two weeks it’s easy to see how big of a variety there is.
The high on October 2 was only 60 degrees, while yesterday’s high of 87 degrees was a record in Colorado Springs.
Pueblo was even warmer as the Steel City reached 94 degrees.
When you look at the rain, eight days of the last 13 have featured rain, but all of those rain days only add up to a little more than half an inch in Colorado Springs.
And those tiny amounts of rain combined with the fronts that give us the rain producing lots of wind have made Colorado Springs firefighters nervous.
They’re cautious about what the dry weather can bring.
Capt. Ed Breece said, “We’re at moderate (fire danger) today, but as things continue to dry out and warm, things may change.”
So, they’re gearing up for the possibility of wildfires.
“As the fire danger goes up, we staff our apparatus a little bit differently,” said Breece.
Firefighter have been getting some help from some residents on the west side.
“We did take down a number of trees in our yard, thinking that might mitigate the risk,” said Reichelt.
And in Colorado there’s one sure way to get rid of the fire danger this time of the year. And Lempert is ready to see it.
We’re talking about snow.
“I don’t know, a couple of feet would be nice,” he said.
Firefighters wouldn’t mind some snow as well to help reduce the fire danger.
