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By Anna Skinner
Associate News Editor
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Snow and wildfire risks are emerging simultaneously across three Western states, after the National Weather Service (NWS) issued winter weather alerts alongside fire warnings on Monday.
The overlap stems from contrasting hazards across the region: Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico are under winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings for accumulating snow and strong winds. Meanwhile, red flag warnings have been issued in each of the three states as well amid low humidity, dry vegetation, gusty winds, and in some cases, abnormally warm temperatures. Combined, this environment creates conditions capable of rapidly spreading wildfire.
It's not uncommon for both hazards to occur simultaneously, NWS Pueblo, Colorado, warning coordination meteorologist Klint Skelly told Newsweek.
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"When you get a lot of snow over the mountains, a lot of that moisture remains over the mountains," Skelly said. "Once the air gets to the other side of the mountains…that setup helps the winds and the dryness develop. Fire and ice kind of go together in Colorado with these kinds of setups."
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Fifteen states across the West, Intermountain West, Northern Plains and Midwest regions are now under a patchwork of winter storm warnings, watches, and advisories as a powerful system pushes inland, threatening deep snow, whiteout conditions, and treacherous mountain passes.
In some cases, NWS meteorologists warned of "life threatening" conditions for motorists, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts in some of the hardest hit areas. The incoming storm comes as western states experience one of the weakest snow seasons in decades. The snow drought has raised concerns about summer water shortages, reduced runoff, and an elevated wildfire risk heading into the dry season.
In Wyoming, winter weather advisories were issued for the northwestern and southern parts of the state, meteorologists warning of up to 3 feet of snow in some high-elevation areas, with conditions that could quickly become life-threatening for hikers and outdoor activities. Red flag warnings were issued across Central Wyoming, with the NWS office in Riverton warning of low humidities, unseasonably warm temperatures, and strong gusty winds combining to cause "erratic fire behavior" should flames ignite.
In Colorado, winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories were issued across much of the western half of the state, whereas red flag warnings were issued in the eastern half. For the winter storm warnings, up to 20 inches of snow could fall. Meanwhile, in the eastern half of the state, winds could gust up to 60 mph, with humidities falling as low as 10 percent.
"A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly," NWS Pueblo said in the red flag warning. "A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior."
In New Mexico, winter storm watches were in place in the north-central part of the state, with red flag warnings issued in the northeast.
"A storm system approaching from the west will allow southwest winds to increase today. This combined with relative humidity values in the low teens will result in critical fire weather conditions across parts of northeast NM this afternoon," NWS Albuquerque said in a red flag warning. "Much stronger to damaging southwest to west winds will impact New Mexico Tuesday with critical fire weather over a larger area of eastern NM. Potential for peak wind gusts of 55 to 70 mph with minimum humidity values of 15 to 20 percent will allow for rapid fire spread among fine fuels."
Many winter weather alerts will remain in effect through at least Tuesday. Wildfire conditions are expected to persist into Tuesday as well, with as the NWS Storm Prediction Center issued an extremely critical wildfire risk for parts of northeastern Colorado, southwestern Nebraska and northwestern Kansas to go into effect.
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