When unexpected heat and sunny weather flags Colorado, how can it affect surrounding communities and activities? 

As we crawl out of winter, Colorado will start coming across some warmer weather. Yet, the last few months Colorado has already been a home to the warm weather. Denver has seen a significant drop in snowfall and a rise in temperatures this year.

 “The average temperature between highs and lows in Denver in March was 51.6 degrees, up from the usual average of 41.5 degrees,” according to FOX31 Denver.

As the sun shines nearly everyday with rare snow sightings, just west of Denver, the Rocky Mountains have had a big drop in how much skiing/winter sports are available to residents. Harsh heat in the supposed “prime destination” has made the visits uneventful and pointless. Aside from the heat, the lack of snow made the ski runs hard to navigate with “exposed dirt and rock,” POWDER Magazine reported. 

“The weather has been a lot warmer this year. The mountains have been struggling,” Jaden Anderson ‘28 said.

While the lack of snow is a problem for the skiing community, it is also concerning because of how Colorado thrives on the snow in the spring and summer. In a season where there is a good percent of snowfall, the mountains have ice on them year round, which “melts gradually through the spring and summer, providing a reliable water source for urban communities and farmers,” Colorado Public Radio said. 

With the lack of snow we have seen over the past couple of months, not a lot of the natural water supply will be provided, which can cause droughts, fires, lack of vegetation and even more negative environmental factors. 

Another community that can be easily affected by the lack of precipitation is rafting. As the snow melts off the mountains the Arkansas and Colorado Rivers become very popular destinations for white water rafting. With little snowmelt from the mountains the rivers have less water and become “unrunnable much earlier,” according to AVA Rafting & Zipline. This makes Colorado a lot less profitable in the outdoor sports and can hurt the overall economy. 

Throughout the summer, Colorado is infamously dry with high temperatures, hot sun and not a lot of wet weather which can be a recipe for wildfires. With a lack of precipitation over the winter months the watch for dryness is at an even higher scale. Colorado “conditions are already prime for fires,” Rocky Mountain PBS  stated, “we’re going to have an unusually early and potentially very severe fire season.”

As we get closer to this stage of the year, it is very important to try and prevent wildfires from spreading and better yet starting. For easy ways to help prevent fire from hurting a community, go to Colorado Fire Prevention and Control for tips to keep everyone safe from a potentially scary summer season.

However, April has been off to another hot start with the average temperature being around 60-63 degrees fahrenheit. Though, Denver is expected to have some relief this week with snow forecasted on Friday and even a freeze watch being warned. Temperatures are expected to have a hard drop to below 20 degrees fahrenheit and hurting gardens that may have been started early with the warmer weather.