COLORADO SPRINGS — The transition from summer to fall brings warnings about escalating wildfire risk.
Hot days and cool nights cause fire fuel to dry out and increase fire danger.
This time of year there can also be rain, even snow, only it can warm back up quickly bringing back fire danger.
“Sometimes we get a moisture pop from precipitation, whether that's snow or rain, things like that. However, we live in a dry, arid climate, and a lot of our precipitation actually dries out, and our fuels dry out very quickly,” said Colorado Springs Fire Department, Fuels Program Administrator, Cory Ashby.
The push and pull of warm to cool can also increase wind.
That can cause a fire to rapidly change from small to out of control.
“[Grasses] the light fuels we speak about. They dry out quickly, and any day after a rain or snow, they are ready to burn again,” said Colorado Springs Fire Department, Deputy Chief, Steve Wilch.
The change from summer to fall is part of enjoying Colorado.
It is also a reason to respect the risk it brings when it comes to fire danger.
WATCH: A quick check-in on how drought looks across the state.
Severe storms begin to pick up Tuesday heading into the evening hours
Skies will begin to turn stormy and unsettled as early as the lunch hour. That's when we expect the first round of storms to develop along the Front Range. For the Pikes Peak Region and I-25 corridor, our main window for severe weather will come between 1-6 pm.
