weather

The Southwest Monsoon Fantasy Forecasts game has players predicting precipitation levels in five Southwest cities – and there's cash on the line.

The First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research group that analyzes climate risk in the U.S., published a report this week projecting the frequency and duration of hazardous heat events come 2053.

Climate change can make flooding worse in a number of ways, according to Colorado State University researcher Frances Davenport. That includes warmer air carrying more moisture, causing more intense precipitation events. It could also mean more rain falling on snowpacks in higher elevations, causing floods like we saw in Yellowstone National Park.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for parts of Nevada, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona this weekend. These warnings usually last one to three days, and mean that any new wildfires could exhibit extreme behavior. If you see these warnings, take extra precautions to prevent wildfires, like make sure campfires are completely out and stop smoking.

A seasonal break from wildfires is disappearing in the West. A wildfire started this Saturday near Boulder, Colorado. It forced thousands of evacuations over the weekend, reminding people of what had just happened 3 months ago: the Marshall Fire, which burned down more than 1,000 homes. Experts say there are no longer fire seasons, just fire years.

Events such as skijoring and snow biking have been cancelled this year, but other events are still slated to continue as normal. Despite the lack of snow, the different festivities have still proven quite popular.

Recent storms brought mountain snowpack above normal levels across much of the West, but the precipitation only slightly improves the region's long-term drought conditions.

Many ski resorts in the state delayed their openings this year due to a lack of snow. Others had concerns about a lack of moisture. But in the past few weeks snowpack has caught up. In fact, the state's snowpack is better than it was at this time last year. Currently, the snowpack is at an 88 percent median while it was 80 percent the year before.

This year's winter got off to a warm and dry start. In response, grass remained green and some bushes and trees started to bud out again, which can make them vulnerable when cold weather hits.

“We are careening towards this future where our mountains no longer have the snowpack that we have come to expect them to have to meet our downstream water needs."