Colorado prepares for SNOW with temperatures plummeting up to 70F in 24 hours – the biggest single-day drop in 150 years – after 100F weekend that sparked raging wildfires across the state
- Wildfires have been raging through Colorado and surrounding states in the US
- But on Tuesday, temperatures will drop drastically as snow falls in Denver
- It could beat the 148-year-old record of a 66-degree drop in one day
- It is also unusually early for snow in Colorado, with October 18 the average
Denver is set to experience the biggest temperature drop for nearly 150 years as raging wildfires turn to snow overnight in Colorado.
Snow is expected on Tuesday in Fort Collins, the Denver metro area and along the Interstate 25 corridor.
The National Weather service says Denver’s temperature is set to drop up to 70 degrees within one day.
Smoke envelopes the downtown Denver skyline as winds carry the smoky air from the Cameron Peak Fire in Colorado as the Colorado city braces itself for a drastic temperature drop
The current record for the city is 66 degrees within 24 hours, which happened in 1872.
The snow is also unusually early, with the average first snowfall in Denver happening on October 18.
The last time it snowed there in September was in 2014, but it was only a small amount.
The Cameron Peak Fire, west of Fort Collins in Colorado, is now one of the largest wildfires in the state’s history
Snow is expected on Tuesday in Fort Collins, the Denver metro area and along the Interstate 25 corridor
The second biggest one-day temperature drop of 64 degrees happened in 1888, while Denver experienced a 61-degree drop in 2015.
On Tuesday, up to 20 inches of snow is expected to fall in some parts of Colorado, helping put out the dangerous wildfires that have burned through the state.
The National Weather Service have warned residents of broken tree limbs and power outages due to the snow.
It comes after one person died and 50 were trapped by wildfires in California as blazes ripped through Washington, Utah Colorado and Oregon during a record heatwave.
A member of the Colorado National Guard directs motorists at a roadblock after forced evacutaions
Red Cross volunteer Faith Reihing stands outside a pop-up shelter for evacuees from Cameron Peak wildfire, Colorado
Wildfires have been blazing across swathes of the western United States, from California and Washington to Colorado
Fires destroyed homes and devastated forests and grasslands, as record high temperatures and strong winds made the task of fire fighters even more challenging.
In California, 14,100 fire fighters were battling 24 separate blazes, which have collectively destroyed 2 million acres.
An all-time temperature record for Los Angeles County of 121 degrees was set on Sunday, during a historic Labor Day weekend heat wave.
The all-time county record was set at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, a suburb of LA.
Denver was cloaked in smoke from the Cameron Peak Fire, which began on August 13 and has so far burned 96,462 acres.
The state has 829 people battling to contain the fire, but evacuations have been ordered.
The Cameron Peak Fire is burning strongly through the timbers around Fort Collins.