The 2023 Colorado wildfire season was a series of wildfires that have been burning throughout the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Background

While "fire season" varies every year based on different weather conditions, most wildfires occur between May and September with a fire risk year-round with an increasing danger during winter.

Drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

and decreasing

snowpack Snowpack is an accumulation of snow that compresses with time and melts seasonally, often at high elevation or high latitude. Snowpacks are an important water resource that feed streams and rivers as they melt, sometimes leading to flooding. Snow ...

levels and lowering

snowmelt In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many part ...

and runoff increase fire risk. These conditions, along with increased temperatures and decreased

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

, are becoming more common from

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Vegetation growth provides an ample fuel for fires. From 2011 to

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, Colorado experiences an average of 5,618 wildfires each year that collectively burn about .

List of wildfires

The following is a list of fires that burned more than , or produced significant structural damage or casualties. {, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders mw-collapsible" style="text-align:center;" , - !scope="col", Name !scope="col", County !scope="col", Acres !scope="col", Start date !scope="col", Containment date !scope="col", Notes !scope="col" class="unsortable", Ref , - !scope="row", 403 , Gunnison, , , , , , , , The

National Centers for Environmental Information The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is a U.S. government agency that manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data. The current director is Deke Arndt. NCEI is operate ...

(NCEI) did not document information about this wildfire., , , - !scope="row", Gageby Creek , Bent, , , , , , , , The

(NCEI) did not document information about this wildfire., , , - !scope="row", Spring Creek ,

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

, , , , , , {{center, October 1, , , , , , - !scope="row", Lowline , Gunnison, , {{yes2, 1,999, , {{dts, 2023, 7, 26, format=md, , {{dts, 2023, 12, 13, format=md, , , Lightning-caused. , , , - !scope="row", Bear Creek , Hinsdale, , {{yes2, 1,093, , {{dts, 2023, 7, 28, format=md, , 2023, , , Caused by lightning about {{convert, 20, mile northwest of

Pagosa Springs Pagosa Springs (Ute language: Pagwöösa, Navajo language: Tó Sido Háálį́) is a home rule municipality that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Archuleta County, Colorado, United Stat ...

. , , , - !scope="row", Little Mesa ,

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

, , {{yes2, 4,009, , {{dts, 2023, 7, 31, format=md, , {{center, September 20, , , , , , - !scope="row", Quartz Ridge ,

Archuleta ''Archuleta'' is a unique family name with origins in Spain. The surname ranked 2,762 out of 88,799 in the United States. Origin The name ''Archuleta'' is a Castillian derivation of Basque ''Arechuleta'', which ultimately comes from the place na ...

, , {{yes2, 2,850, , {{dts, 2023, 8, 5, format=md, , {{center, October 30, , , , , , - !scope="row", Dry Lake ,

, , {{yes2, 1,372, , {{dts, 2023, 8, 30, format=md, , {{center, September 12, , , , , {{Cite web , title=Dry Lake Fire , url=https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/cosjf-dry-lake-fire , access-date=September 26, 2023 , website=InciWeb: Incident Information System{{Dead link , date=May 2024

References

{{reflist{{2023 wildfires 2023 wildfires in the United States Wildfires in Colorado

Background

List of wildfires

See also

References