The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Hot and windy conditions bring summer’s first Red Flag Warning
Remember last April when the snow wouldn’t stop and everyone’s mantra to stay sane was “We need the moisture…”? Well, it turns out that was true. This second week of June started out hot, dry, sunny and windy with temperatures in the 80s in both Crested Butte and Gunnison. It even came close to that in Gothic, with a Monday reading of 77 degrees.
Last year, we were all on the edge of our seats with fire restrictions already in place. A day like this past Tuesday with low humidity and high winds would have been a real danger for the valley. But while a Red Flag Warning was issued for Tuesday, overall we are in a pretty good situation with no urgency to implement fire restrictions—yet.
“We seem to go from winter to fire danger season. That’s almost normal anymore,” observed Crested Butte Fire Protection District manager Mike Miller. “As soon as the snow melts off, we have to be aware of the possibility for wildfires. We are better off than last year but it’s getting hot and dry. My grass seems like it’s already dying and it hasn’t even gotten green.”
Gunnison County emergency manager Scott Morrill agreed. “Last year was unusually dry but the moisture we received in April and May and the low temperatures we had in the spring are really helping us even now,” he said. “We look okay at the moment.”
Morrill said some Colorado counties, primarily on the Front Range, have already imposed fire restrictions. Some of the drier counties on this side of the Divide are close to enacting restrictions. But Gunnison County “is not there yet,” he said. “We still need to be careful but there is still moisture in the region.”
It’s soooooo hot
It might make our friends in Texas and Oklahoma laugh to hear so many residents of the valley take note of the heat. But we are. After all, both Crested Butte and Gunnison reached temperatures in the 80s this week. Compare that to Tulsa, Houston and Dallas, which will each see a lot of 90-degree and even 100-degree temperatures and it is hard to complain. Plus, their overnight lows will be in the neighborhood of our regular daytime highs.
The average maximum temperature in Crested Butte during June is 70.2 degrees, according to Western Regional Climate Center statistics. But the higher temps usually come near the end of the month as we enter the heat of the summer. For example, the record June temperature in Crested Butte is 89 degrees. That was reached last year on June 25.
The average maximum temperature in Gunnison in June is 76 degrees. According to the Western Regional Climate Center, the record temp in Gunnison for June was 96 degrees and was reached on June 30, 1898.
billy barr has been watching the weather in Gothic, Colo. for decades. He has focused mainly on the winter statistics but has been keeping a closer eye on summer since 2000. He says the first part of the week was indeed hot, with Sunday and Monday coming close to maxing out but not quite. He said Sunday was the third hottest June 9 in 20 years, with a temperature of 74 degrees, while Monday was the second warmest June 10 in the last 19 years, recording a high of 77 degrees.
“Overall it seems the first ten days of this June is in the top 25 or 30 percent of the Junes in terms of hotness, which is significant, but it hasn’t been a scorcher except for those two days,” barr said. “Gothic is different from town but it feels warm up here for the time of year.”
No matter the averages, the early June weather has gotten people out onto the trails and the rivers. Campfires are still allowed—for the moment. The weekend visitor traffic is picking up with people from the city already visiting the mountains to escape 90-plus degrees. We are heading into the summer season full force.
Incidentally, the high on Friday in Crested Butte is projected to be 73. In Houston, the low will be 79.
