Stephanie Butzer joined the Denver7 team as a digital producer in June 2018, became the senior digital producer in February 2023 and as of December 2023, is the team's executive producer.
DENVER — Wednesday is shaping up to become a windy day for much of Colorado, with a planned power outage in the San Luis Valley and red flag warnings covering much of the state. Like Tuesday, temperatures will hover about 20 degrees above normal on Wednesday, the National Weather Service out of Boulder said.
But strong winds and low humidity, combined with dry foliage, will bring those critical fire conditions on Wednesday. The red flag warning will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, lasting through midnight. The strongest wind gusts — up to 45 mph — are expected in the late afternoon and evening, with minimum humidity between 4% and 9%. This applies to South Park, the Front Range, foothills, I-25 urban corridor, and much of eastern and southern Colorado, the NWS reported. The windiest locations are expected to be the northern foothills. But the NWS also stressed that the San Luis Valley, plus a narrow stretch up through Buena Vista and Leadville, will face a 'particularly dangerous situation.''Fires will spread uncontrollably and could be very destructive,' they wrote about the valley. Xcel Energy said at 4 p.m. Tuesday that they will implement a public safety power shutoffs for the San Luis Valley, which will impact about 7,100 customers in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, and Rio Grande counties, at noon Wednesday. 'Make final preparations for outages now, especially if you use medical equipment that requires electricity,' the company warned. In addition, customers in Garfield, Mesa and Pitkin counties may also see a power shutoff on Wednesday, but a few hours earlier. The agency said crews will restore the power as soon as it is safe to do so. But it said that 'rural, remote, mountainous and other difficult-to-reach areas could experience extended outages.'Winds are expected to weaken around 7 p.m. Wednesday. The forecasters at the NWS noted that predicting the winds 'will be more difficult,' as they may be slow to develop or weaker than expected on the front end. 'Nonetheless, there is confidence that winds will gust between 35-45 mph which is why the Fire Weather Watch was upgraded to a Red Flag Warning,' the agency reported. DENVER7 WEATHER LINKS: Hourly forecast | Radars | Traffic | Weather Page | 24/7 Weather StreamBy Thursday morning, the red flag warning will have expired, but a fire weather watch will remain in effect for the southern foothills, urban corridor, eastern plains and South Park through the evening. A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are in the forecast. Xcel Energy said it is monitoring a 'high wildfire risk event' along the northern Front Range on Thursday. Click here for the latest. Conditions will settle Friday through the weekend. Click here to watch the Denver7 live weather stream, or watch below.
Fire Danger Colorado Fire Danger Colorado Alamosa County Fire Danger Colorado Conejos County Fire Danger Colorado Costilla County Fire Danger Colorado Garfield County Fire Danger Colorado Mesa County Fire Danger Colorado Pitkin County Fire Danger Colorado Rio Grande County Red Flag Warning Buena Vista
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