
As I was preparing recently to write this blog post a few weeks ago, several friends had just lost homes in the Marshall Fire that occurred in Boulder County on December 30th, and I was reminded that my LAST blog post, dated October 22, 2020, “Climate Change Impacts on Colorado Water Users,” specifically touched on increased wildfires as a potential consequence of climate change. In October of 2020, Colorado was just coming out of one of the hottest and driest summers in recorded history. Unfortunately, the beginning of 2022 isn’t shaping up to look much better. As of the date of the Marshall fire, Colorado, and the country as a whole, had just experienced the hottest six months in recorded history. The next highest six-month average temperature occurred during the 1930s, during the Dust Bowl.
The data, sourced from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, illustrated that the average Colorado temperature between July and December reached 53.4 degrees, which is over a degree and a half warmer than the same six-month span in 2020. The next highest six-month state average was 52.1 degrees in 1933.