Colorado Fire Ends The Year With Yet Another Climate Calamity

Destructive wildfires loom over Christmas decorations
Thursday in Colorado.

 Fires were calming down near Boulder, Colorado this morning as winds slackened, temperatures plunged and snow got ready to move in, but the damage is done.  

At least 580 homes, plus other buildings burned in yesterday's fast moving wildfire near Boulder, mostly in the relatively affluent and densely populated towns of Louisville and Superior.

 There was no way to stop the flames. Winds gusted as high as 110 mph.  The flames advanced the length of a football field in a few seconds.

Like many of this year's disasters, this one is especially notable for its speed and surprise.  Forecasters had warned the public ahead of time about strong winds and dry conditions, but this intense fire appeared to take everyone by surprise.

I worry not everybody was able to get out in time, and they might find bodies in the rubble today. I hope not.

Upwards of 30,000 people had to be evacuated ahead of the fires. Local news outlets are calling this fire the most destructive in Colorado history. 

Once again, like we've seen so often in the past year, scenes out of Colorado were like a wild disaster movie, but were all too real.

One clip showed a Costco being evacuated, as shoppers hastily left the building into a parking lot filled with fast moving, blinding smoke, sirens and chaos. An Associated Press video showed spot fires rapidly starting in ornamental bushes and plastic trash cans in one neighborhood amid the intense winds and smoke. Photos bizarrely showed festive Christmas decorations in the foreground, with flames ripping through homes behind them. 

Strong winds coming off the Front Range of the Rockies are not that odd, though Thursday's winds were more intense than usual. What was odd was the drought conditions, and the lack of snow so far this year.

Usually when these powerful winds develop near Boulder or Denver this time of year, there's snow on the ground, or the snow just melted in the warm winds. That leaves relatively wet ground and little chance of fires gaining too much ground.  

Passengers on flights leaving Denver airport
saw this apocalyptic scene below them.

Climate change has shifting the equation, and it seems these out of season fires are here to stay as a result. Note that the extreme fire that destroyed Paradise, California started on November 8, 2018, at a time when the rainy season should have been beginning in northern California.

The destructive fire around Gatlinburg, Tennessee on November 28, 2016 was also incredibly late in the season for the region.  That fire, like the one in Boulder, burned in intense winds just ahead of a cold front. 

More weather havoc appears to be on the way today elsewhere in the nation.  In a band through and south of the Ohio Valley, considerable flooding is on tap today and tomorrow.  

Strangely humid, warm air for this time of year will interact with a cold front, causing torrential rainfall. The flood danger zone includes areas most affected by late season tornadoes on December 10.

More tornadoes also seem likely today and tonight in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia in the exceptionally summer-like air.

Though tornado outbreaks do occur in the South this time of year, the frequency and intensity of tornadoes in the United States in December has been off the charts.  Climate change seems to have had a hand in that, too.  The Gulf of Mexico is at record warm levels, and that's feeding the storms and enabling them to spin off more tornadoes and torrential rains.

Fire videos:

Click on on the hyperlinks if you don't seem them on the page:

The Denver Channel gives a horrifying overview:

In what looks like a scene from a disaster movie, a Costco is being hastily evacuated as the fire closes in: 

Here's the awful view a passenger on a United flight passing over the fire scene saw: