For the second week of August, Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons does not recommend fire restrictions.

According to FitzSimons, monsoonal rains are holding, energy release components continue to stay below the 90th percentile and no one in the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit is under a fire restriction. 

He added that starting Tuesday, Aug. 9, warm temperatures will last throughout Wednesday, with monsoonal rains coming back for the weekend. 

The two-week outlook calls for above average temperatures and above average precipitation, and the three-month outlook calls for above average temperatures and below average precipitation. 

FitzSimons said La Niña looks like it will “stick around,” causing a winter in Summit County similar to last year’s. Therefore, he said the season will most likely start off dry. La Niña, a weather pattern where cooler temperatures come off of the Pacific Ocean, causes warm and dry weather in southern areas. 

This far in the summer, Summit County commissioners rejoiced that environmental conditions still do not require restrictions, and they were happy to see FitzSimons come in for another week of “good news.” 

During the summer of 2021, a Stage 1 fire restriction started on June 18, and fluctuated between Stage 1 and Stage 2 until the end of July 2021, when fire restrictions were finally lifted.

Though Summit County has been free of fire restrictions for nine weeks now, FitzSimons is still weary, and said he’s waiting for the second something could change. 

“Grasses are growing taller,” he said, which poses a severe possibility of drying out to become wildfire fuel. 

The fire danger level is moderate and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office encourages residents and visitors to exercise caution.