DENVER -- It's been several months since any major wildfires threatened Colorado, but that could change in the near future.

Take a look at the current fire danger around the country. Portions of western Colorado are under high to extreme fire danger.

Hot, dry weather is anticipated both Tuesday and Wednesday across the western slope. The forecast has prompted a red flag warning for locations below 8,000 feet, west of a line from Craig to Durango.

The warning is valid Tuesday afternoon and evening.

A fire weather watch has been posted for locations below 8,000 feet in extreme southwest Colorado on Wednesday.

While fire danger is high along the Utah-Colorado border, it is low to moderate elsewhere, thanks to a soggy spring along and east of the Continental Divide.

Some locations along the Palmer Divide of Douglas, Jefferson, and Elbert counties have received 10 inches of moisture since April 1.

Much of the Denver metro area has seen at least 5 inches of precipitation during the period.

Click here to see a full list of area precipitation totals since April 1.

Weather Pattern Shifting

The dry weather across Georgia and Florida that has prompted massive wildfires, and the wet weather over much of the central United States this spring, has been caused by a persistent weather pattern.

Persistent weather patterns occur when semi-permanent areas of high and low pressure around the globe sit and don't move, causing a backlog for everything upstream.

This was the case this year with the Bermuda high, an area of high pressure that migrates back and forth between the central Atlantic Ocean and the southeast United States with the seasons.

During March and April, the Bermuda high migrated west over the southeast United States and parked for several weeks. This kept locations to the north and west of the high pressure in an active weather pattern.

The result was wetter-than-normal conditions across Colorado, and record-setting wet conditions from Kansas to Texas during April and May.

Now, the Bermuda high has weakened and is slowly moving east, back out over the Atlantic Ocean. This will open the weather pipeline that was backed up for so many weeks and will result in a shift back to more normal conditions for this time of year.

It doesn't mean an end to potentially active weather for Colorado, but it does mean the cool, wet weather that much of the country has been experiencing over the past several weeks will come to an end.

It also means that as we head into June and July, temperatures will be on the rise across the country.

In fact, a bubble of 90s is anticipated over most of the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys by the end of the week. Highs are expected to approach or exceed 90 degrees as far north as Chicago and Detroit by Thursday.

In the desert southwest, the heat has been building for the past six weeks. Widespread 90s during April and May are now giving way to lower and middle 100s.

What Does This Mean For Colorado?

The shift in this large-scale weather pattern means a return to reality for Colorado.

The period from June to mid-September is typically the heart of wildfire season around the state.

Despite a much wetter-than-normal April and May, all it will take to turn the lush, green landscape we see along the Front Range today into a tinderbox of fuel, is one or two weeks of hot, dry, windy weather.

Because of the thick vegetation around the region this year, should we see hot, dry weather grip the state, it will escalate the fire weather threat along the Front Range.

Now would be a good time to take necessary precautions around your home to fireproof your property; especially residents in and near the foothills.

Click here for information on what you can do to fireproof your home and property.

There are currently no fire bans in effect across Colorado, but this information could change daily, especially across western Colorado.

Click here for the latest information on fire bans in counties and forests around the state.

Long-Range Forecast

There are mixed signals in the current long-range weather outlook, especially for eastern Colorado.

Dry conditions are expected to continue across counties along the Utah border. Drought conditions could intensify through June and July.

Central and eastern Colorado are forecasted to have equal chances for normal temperatures and precipitation through the summer. This means that anything can happen.

The daily cycle of afternoon showers and thunderstorms will continue through the summer, and we should see the annual monsoonal moisture return toward the end of July.

However, there will be periodic bouts with hot, dry weather over the next eight weeks, and that means that fire danger conditions could rapidly increase where it is currently moderate to low.

Stay with 7NEWS and TheDenverChannel.com all summer for the latest, most in-depth weather coverage across Colorado.