Skiers, consider this your fair warning: It’s gonna be a warm, dry season.

Last month was the hottest September on record for Colorado Springs, and La Niña, the Pacific Ocean climatic phenomenon blamed for the heat wave, is predicted to continue through the fall and winter, said Mark Wankowski, meterologist with the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Last month’s average temperature was a whopping 7.2 degrees warmer than the long-term September average of 59.8 degrees and 0.4 degrees warmer than the previous record average temperature for September of 66.6 degrees, set in 1931.

With exceptions depending on your favorite outdoor activity and the amount of grass in your care, the heat generally has been welcome.

“With the wonderful weather we’ve been having, it wouldn’t surprise me if more people are out enjoying our parks and trails,” said Kurt Schroeder, Colorado Springs Parks, Trails and Open Space manager.

But he suggests they empty their water bottles on the grass as they leave.“The grass and trees are ready to go to sleep,” he said. “The grass is shutting down, but it still needs moisture to survive.”

City parks are using “every penny we’ve got budgeted” for water but can’t water as much as Schroeder would like this fall.

Usually, around this time the Parks Department starts its six-week process of shutting down and winterizing sprinkler systems. But that job is being put off a couple of weeks because of the weather, he said.

“It’s very much a guessing game because the temperatures here can change and get very cold quickly,” he said.

Schroeder also asked people out enjoying the weather to use extreme caution because of the extreme fire danger, particularly in regional open-space areas.

Colorado Springs and El Paso County restrictions on most outside fires except cooking fires, implemented in mid-September, remain in effect.

ENJOY THE WEATHER

• For the latest on the fall colors in Colorado parks, go to http:/parks.state.co.us.

• See fall colors photos at outtherecolorado.com

—Gazette staffer Sue McMillin contributed to this report.

A stand off aspens grew up from a burned-out area recently near Westcreek, just south of Deckers off Colorado Highway 67. The trees were burned in the 2002 Hayman fire. Aspens are quick to recover from fire because it allows them to out-compete taller, more shade tolerant tree species. Photo by CAROL LAWRENCE, THE GAZETTE FILE

On the last official day of the summer, Marivi Bobin was giving rides on her bicycle to her neighbors, Ariana Cardenas, Devon Cardenas, and Keanon Cardenas (left to right) in the Hillside neighborhood. Summer weather is expected to last in October. Photo by JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE FILE