Red flag warnings were issued across much of southeast Colorado on Friday amid continuing abnormally warm conditions in the region.

The National Weather Service in Pueblo forecast humidity levels as low as 7% with winds gusting up to 60 mph during the warning period from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Smoke from wildfires in western Nebraska also spread across the region, prompting the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to issue air quality alerts across the state’s northeastern and eastern counties.

NWS Pueblo also issued alerts for southeast Colorado to take effect over the weekend. A red flag warning is slated from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and a high wind watch will take effect from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

The alert issued by the National Weather Service in Pueblo for Saturday warns “extreme fire danger is expected” and that “very destructive” fires could spread uncontrollably.

The NWS Storm Prediction Center forecast critical fire danger for much of southeast Colorado on Saturday, including all of Pueblo County and most of El Paso County.

The risk outlook spans across much of New Mexico, eastern Colorado, western Kansas and western Nebraska. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous city in the risk area behind Albuquerque, N.M., and ahead of Aurora.

Southeast Colorado was within an elevated fire risk area Friday that also prompted red flag warnings, but neither outlook forecasted any extreme risk across the area.

Xcel Energy warned a power shutoff was “likely” on Saturday afternoon in Boulder and Jefferson counties, according to reporting by The Gazette.

Cooler temperatures and snow return to the forecast Saturday night into Sunday morning, but high heat will return in the middle of next week, according to the weather service.

High temperatures on Thursday and Friday are forecast to break all-time daily high temperatures, both set in 2017. Forecast highs of 83 on both days would break the records of 80 degrees for March 19 and 76 degrees for March 20.

Fire danger may return next week with no precipitation forecast through the end of the weather service’s seven-day forecast on Friday, after possible snowfall over the weekend.

NWS Pueblo already issued more red flag warnings to start a year than any other on record, with 24.

The next closest years are 2009 and 2017, which both had 17 issued by March 13, according to weather service data. Before this year, there have not been more than nine issued year-to-date since 2018.

Much of southeast Colorado remains outside any drought classification, but that area has shrunk over the past three months, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor published on Thursday. Those conditions have not spread to El Paso or Pueblo counties, which remain drought-free.

Colorado Springs has recorded above-average precipitation and snowfall in the first few months of the year.

Most of the city’s snowfall this year fell on Jan. 8 and 9, which recorded 13.3 of the 23.8 inches that have accumulated so far in 2026. One day of measurable snowfall was recorded last month when 0.2 inches fell on Feb. 20.

Meanwhile, snowpack across the state remains at record low levels, according to the USDA’s National Water and Climate Center. The soonest the state could return to its median snowpack in a projected best-case scenario is May 1.

The center’s worst-case scenario projects the snowpack to be completely melted by May 1 before more snowfall later that month. No year on record has seen an entirely melted snowpack before June 3.