New Mexico has seen 184 wildfires burn over 135,000 acres in 2022, which is more than the entirety of last year. By themselves, the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires in Santa Fe National Forest, just 33 percent contained, had consumed more than 60,000 acres.
Although conditions favorable for fires relaxed early this week, they are again becoming conducive for existing blazes to spread and new ones to rapidly grow.
On Thursday, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center placed much of Arizona, New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle under an “elevated” or higher-end “critical” risk category for fires.
The risk expands slightly east and peaks Friday with the elevated fire risk zone covering much of New Mexico, eastern Colorado, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and western Kansas. Within this zone, a large area is expected to see critical fire-weather conditions, including Albuquerque, Colorado Springs and Amarillo, Tex. A small portion of southeast Colorado, including Pueblo, is under a top-tier “extremely critical” fire risk.
An “outbreak of dangerous fire-weather conditions [is] expected,” the Storm Prediction Center wrote. Red-flag warnings for high fire danger and high-wind warnings are up for much of the at-risk region.