Yikes!

Once again, it's in the low 60s already. There is a 150-acre wildfire in Park County, the Snyder Creek fire, and while we don't have much wind at the moment, we will have a lot this afternoon. We're under a Red Flag warning for high fire danger until 8 p.m. Currently, the humidity is at 12%. I'm in shorts and a T-shirt; the kits are playing on the patio. Four days ago, I walked back home from the east, and saw that the Front Range was really starting to green up; the Back Range (the Indian Peaks) were still completely covered with a gleaming mantle of snow. After 4 days with temperatures in the 70s and 80s, you can see brown, rocky ridge striations in the Indian Peaks, along with the snow.
Besides the fire danger, the big concern now is flooding. - I know, they should be at opposite extremes, but in Colorado in the springtime, they go together. - The high country got over 48 feet of snow this season; and most places have over 100 inches of snow still in place. With the big warm-up of the past few days, the concerns are for avalanches, quick snow melts, and mudslides in areas that had fire within the last year. Boulder is one of the quickest flood spots in Colorado - we're in a little valley, and several creeks and ditches flow into this constricted area. The most notable is Boulder Creek, which flows past the south end of my apartment building. Boulder Creek has been known to rise 100 feet in less than 12 hours - so I'm always listening for any flood alert warnings. I was awakened this morning at six a.m. by a siren and a female voice saying something incomprehensible over a speaker - turns out it was a moving traffic violation, and the driver was still rolling along after a 4 mile drive with flashing lights behind them.... But I certainly woke up fast! - And immediately turned on the local TV station, and checked the computer for Boulder Creek water levels... but found nothing. Ah, well.... Such is life.