How meteorology and complex terrain led to a December wildfire disaster in Colorado
As a meteorologist and climate scientist, I have visited Boulder, Colorado many times because several NOAA facilities and the National Center For Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are located there. My heart sank when I heard the news about fast moving wildfires destroying over 500 structures or homes (at the time of writing) in the surrounding areas. Chances are pretty high that I know someone adversely affected. A colleague asked how this could happen so quickly. In this case, the initial meteorology breakdown points to strong winds in complex mountainous terrain. Here’s a brief “101” on what happened. On the morning preceding the fires, the National Weather Service (NWS) – Boulder was warning of very strong winds. They tweeted, “Confidence increasing in very strong winds across much of Larimer, Boulder counties from now thru this PM.
