As high winds and dry conditions persist in southern Colorado, the National Weather Service is expecting fire dangers to remain for portions of the state and warm weather up to Christmas Eve. The weather agency expects fire dangers in southeast Colorado to remain for at least a “couple more day s” as above-average temperatures for December continue, according to a Thursday social media post from the agency’s station in Pueblo. Starting at 11 a.m., parts of several neighboring counties east of El Paso County were put under another red flag warning by the Weather Service on Thursday. Wind gusts up to 55 mph are expected throughout the day, especially in Kiowa County. Humidity values continue to be in the low teens. On Friday, Colorado Springs and Pueblo will be placed under a fire weather watch, with the Weather Service expecting winds up to 35 mph. Humidity values may also drop to as low as 8% across the region as temperatures remain warm. According to Weather Service data, the 30-year-average winter temperature from December to February is 31.6 degrees. On Thursday, temperatures cooled by about 10-15 degrees across southern Colorado, including in Colorado Springs. But the region will have a high of around 66 degrees on Friday, and temperatures are forecast to be in the 50s or 60s all the way up to Christmas Eve. The warmer temperatures are continuing a December trend in Colorado that has persisted since the first snowstorm of the season at the start of the month. After receiving snow totals that broke records in Pueblo, temperatures started to warm. On Wednesday, the entire Interstate 25 corridor along the Front Range of Colorado was placed under a red flag warning by the Weather Service. Unincorporated El Paso County was put under burn restrictions as most of southern Colorado had high wind warnings amid the dry conditions. Some of the strongest winds were up north in the Denver area, with some winds as strong as 90 mph. In southeast Colorado, two reports in Fremont County to the Weather Service recorded gusts upward of 90 mph, and Pikes Peak experienced a gust of 86 mph. Over 6,500 Core Electric Cooperative customers were without service in Park, Jefferson, Clear Creek and Teller counties due to the winds, the company stated in a post on social media Wednesday afternoon. Tens of thousands of Xcel Energy customers in northern Colorado had their power turned off Wednesday in a preventive move by the power company. ...read more read less