A blanket of snow brings much needed moisture and offers a break from the series of Red Flag condition wildfire warnings over the past week."It had been almost a month since measurable snow in The Springs," said News 5 Meteorolo
gist, Alan Rose.This is likely a very short reprieve from elevated fire danger.We have increasing southwest wind, said Rose, Thats that Chinook, that dry downslope wind, and were back under high fire danger.The snow creates a wet barrier on top of dead and dormant grasses.When the sun comes out the snow will melt quickly and the wind in the forecast can dry out the grasses in just an hour.With the sun, that solar heating allows the vegetation to then start to warm up and the slightest breeze can dry that out, particularly if we have low humidity, said Colorado Springs Fire Marshal, Brett Lacey.The conditions will persist for several more weeks.When vegetation starts its springtime green-up it helps temper the fire risk._______Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching. ...read more read less