DENVER — If it felt extra dry and windy on Thursday, even by our recent standards, you'd be right.
Colorado Springs, Denver and much of eastern Colorado experienced exceptionally dry weather conditions on Thursday. Much of the Front Range and eastern Colorado saw dewpoints drop below zero on Thursday, a rare to historic level of dryness for the month of May.
Dewpoints are a measure of the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. The lower the dewpoint, for example, the drier the air mass is.
In Colorado Springs, the dewpoint dropped to a stunning -15 degrees on Thursday afternoon. That's now the lowest dewpoint on record there during the month of May. Dewpoint records in Colorado Springs date back to 1949.
In Denver, the dewpoint dropped below zero on Thursday afternoon, making it the city's first below-zero May dewpoint since 2011. That's based on official observations from Denver International Airport, Denver's official climate site.
Translation: It was really dry on Thursday, even historic in places.
On top of that, winds gusted up to 70 mph in the foothills, with the Denver and Colorado Springs areas each seeing peak gusts above 50 mph.
Three grass fires started in Colorado Springs on Thursday, likely helped by Thursday's exceptionally dry and windy weather.
Colorado saw its eighth-straight day with a Red Flag Warning (fire weather warning) over at least some portion of the state on Thursday, and the 33rd day out of the last 38.
There's unfortunately little relief in sight, though some shower and storm chances should move back into parts of northern Colorado by the middle to end part of next week.
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