Rare Colorado Wildfires in December Force Thousands to Evacuate

“Prayers for thousands of families evacuating from the fires in Superior and Boulder County. Fast winds are spreading flames quickly and all aircraft are grounded,” Gov. Polis said on Twitter.

The wildfires join a parade of dangerous weather events that have marauded across the U.S. this December. Among them are freak heat in the eastern third of the country while the Northern Rockies went into a deep freeze; unprecedented heat for any winter month in Alaska; monster snowstorms in California; deadly tornadoes in the South; and a wind and dust storm trailed by a derecho.

This is also Colorado’s second weird fire outbreak in as many months. In mid-November, wildfires sprung up in the mountains near the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, a place normally accustomed to snow rather than flames at this time of year.

The cause for so much wild weather is a jet stream that has taken bizarre twists and turns, allowing cold air to drop from the Arctic and warm air to rush up from the tropics in weird places. The split in temperature gradient has helped fuel some of the strange weather. Climate change is, of course, also upping the odds of wildfires since a little extra heat allows fires to spread more rapidly.