A new analysis shows fall is getting warmer across the nation – especially in parts of the Mountain West region.
Using data from more than 230 locations, Climate Central found that fall temperatures rose by an average of 2.4 degrees since 1970. And the West experienced some of the most intense increases, with vast swaths of the region seeing jumps of 3.5 degrees or more.
“This can mean later start to snowpack season, it can mean drier soils, it can mean elevated risk for wildfires,” Becky Bolinger, Colorado’s assistant state climatologist, said of the findings. Her state was among the most impacted, according to Climate Central.
The wind-driven Marshall Fire near Boulder killed two people and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in December 2021. Bolinger noted that it came after a very hot and dry summer and fall.
“When you have that, that's what you get,” she said.
Other impacts noted by Climate Central include a prolonged presence of disease-carrying insects like mosquitoes, longer allergy seasons and greater energy demand from air conditioners.
“The more that we know about these events, the more that we can plan for them and hopefully minimize the impacts that we experience from them if we know that they're more likely to happen,” Bolinger said.
She added that in the wake of the Marshall Fire some Colorado communities have turned to goats and other livestock to keep grasses shorter – and hopefully prevent another tragedy.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
