The National Weather Service issued more red flag days in January and February across Colorado than ever before.
The NWS Boulder office issued 16 red flag warning or watch days in the first two months of 2026. The second-most in that same time span is six, in 2009 and 2017.
“It looks like the warm and dry pattern is going to persist through the next three to four weeks as we head into early April,” said Greg Heavener, warning coordination meteorologist for the NWS Boulder.
Heavener says the winter’s La Niña weather pattern is to blame.
In La Niña years, strong winds in the Pacific blow warm ocean water away from the U.S. That causes cold water deeper in the ocean to rise, lowering the ocean's temperature — something that has a big impact on the weather we experience in Colorado. Notably, it typically creates dryer, lower snow years.
Heavener says that pattern is beginning to change, though. He took Denver7 to the NWS Boulder office on Thursday where he showed graphs that illustrate the warmer ocean water that has been returning to the Pacific, transitioning out of a La Niña pattern and into what is called an ENSO neutral pattern where neither La Niña or El Niño is present.
WATCH AND LISTEN: Heavener walks Denver7 through looping ocean temperatures map
He says that can mean more storms that Colorado desperately needs.
“Hopefully that pattern does present at least some kind of abatement in fire potential, but we do have a lot of folks who are very, very worried, given the deficits we have in our snow pack and also the current ongoing exceptional drought across the front range, could pose a greater issue,” Heavener said.
On Thursday, the latest drought monitor showed much of the central Denver metro area in extreme drought, the first time it has had that designation in four years, according to Denver7 meteorologist Stacey Donaldson.
The drought monitor also shows exceptional drought for parts of Summit, Eagle, Pitkin and Park counties.
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