Anyone else sick and tired of the wind? (Colorado Springs, Dove Creek: school, tornadoes)

[rochester_veteran]

The previous burn ban was lifted by CSFD back on Feb. 25, 2022. COS has been getting precipitation in the form of snow and rain since Friday. That's what prompted me to speculate whether the current burn ban will be lifted.

https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-c...rn-restriction

[otowi]

Originally Posted by rochester_veteran

The previous burn ban was lifted by CSFD back on Feb. 25, 2022. COS has been getting precipitation in the form of snow and rain since Friday. That's what prompted me to speculate whether the current burn ban will be lifted.

https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-c...rn-restriction

https://gazette.com/news/recent-rain...sXhwqtF-4tR3X8

Recent rain and snow in Colorado Springs area won't end burn ban as fire danger looms

Rain and snow have fended off severe fire danger for now, but the risk will return in June when trees and grasses dry out, officials said Monday in explaining why El Paso County's strict burn ban must remain in place.

“Over the past couple of days with the weather, we certainly don’t have the fire risk right now, but we were encountering huge fire risk prior to that, and we are certainly going to be having a lot of fire risk going forward,” said El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf.

The county still has an active Stage II fire ban, which prohibits outdoor burning, smoking and fireworks. Violations could result in fines up to $1,000.

The burn ban won’t be lifted in response to recent wet weather for the sake of consistency, according to Jim Reid, director of the Pikes Peak Office of Emergency Management. He said the fire danger will soon be just as high as it was before the snowstorm, so lifting the ban just to reinstate it would be confusing.

Rain this week will contribute to plant growth, which Reid also said increases fuel for fires.

“What I’ve seen in the last 20 years is this county has gone from fire season primarily during the summer to fire season year-round,” Reid said.

On May 12, there were three significant fires in El Paso County that caused evacuations, burned eight homes and claimed one life.

“When you’re told to evacuate, it’s real simple: Leave,” Reid said. “We can’t replace you; we can replace your homes.”

Colorado Springs residents are being encouraged to register for Peak Alerts, a notification system through the platform Everbridge, which alerts the public about emergency situations in specific areas. As of now, just 10% of the local population is registered for the alerts.

Peak Alerts sends notifications about emergencies directly from emergency dispatchers to registered users via text, email and phone call. When registering, users can also include up to five addresses to receive alerts about.

A secondary notification system also is in place that sends alerts wirelessly using cell towers to all phones in a certain area.

However, this system erroneously notified users outside of the designated area during fire emergencies on May 12, according to Ben Bills, El Paso County 911 Authority public information officer. A cause for the overnotification has yet to be determined.

“Right now, the wireless emergency alert, I’ve taken it out of play for now,” Bills said. “However, I am confident that if we needed it in an emergency, it would work as designed.”

El Paso County Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez is encouraging Colorado Springs residents to stay vigilant and aware of their surroundings. “If you do see something, notify the proper authorities. In this case, (call) your local fire department or the sheriff’s department.”

Fire safety precautions on an individual level can help prevent fires before they start. More information on wildfire mitigation can be found on the El Paso County website.

“We need to take this seriously, and I’m asking residents to make sure that as we enter the heart of fire season we do mitigate (and) we do practice good, sound fire safety,” Gonzalez said.

[rochester_veteran]

Thanks for posting the article, otowi. Here's the link where one could sign up for Peak Alerts that was mentioned in the article:

https://elpasoteller911.org/246/Peak-Alerts

[Vision67]

The Indy posted pictures from Wind storm of December 15, 2021. That devastation was epic.

https://www.csindy.com/multimedia/ph...a6bfcc.html#14

I'll admit that there are two aspects of the weather in Colorado Springs that I don't miss: Wind and Hail.

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by Vision67

The Indy posted pictures from Wind storm of December 15, 2021. That devastation was epic.

https://www.csindy.com/multimedia/ph...a6bfcc.html#14

I'll admit that there are two aspects of the weather in Colorado Springs that I don't miss: Wind and Hail.

Ha ... I took a 40-second video from my porch that day ... it was truly epic. A pine tree across the street looked like it was taking a bow (or should I say bough). Took care of all the leaves I didn't get around to raking.

[orngkat]

Here we go again with the wind. The main reason I want to leave this city...

[COcheesehead]

Originally Posted by orngkat

Here we go again with the wind. The main reason I want to leave this city...

The wind is prevalent all over Colorado.

[wilberry]

has anyone ever lived in ALBQ , they have a very windy spring
El Paso a very windy , autumn
but I love the west

[LHS79]

Another wonderful Spring- one of the best things about living in CO. (!)

Makes it fun to ride bikes and enjoy the outdoors for sure.

Definitely tired already of it and we have another month or two to enjoy these lovely "breezes".

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by LHS79

Another wonderful Spring- one of the best things about living in CO. (!)

Makes it fun to ride bikes and enjoy the outdoors for sure.

Definitely tired already of it and we have another month or two to enjoy these lovely "breezes".

I believe those are called 'gentle zephyrs.' A term that goes back to the ancient Greeks who, for lack of any science to explain it, created a god called Zephyrus, god of the west wind, as they had no scientific explanation for why the wind almost always blew from the west. My middle school teachers referred to this wind pattern as 'the prevailing westerlies.' In this country, during the golden age of railroad travel, major railroads named their first-class passenger trains after Zephyrus, with train names like The California Zephyr or the Portland Zephyr; railroad historians can point to at least ten such named trains, the pride of the rail fleets, with first class dining car service of fine china, silver plated utensils, fine linens, and choice foods. The point of the names were to imply that these were fast trains that ran with the wind. . .