Inland Northwest Weather Blog

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Does a dry winter lead to a bad fire season?

Common sense would suggest that if the fuels begin the fire season on a dry note that should increase the risk of fires later in the year. But is that necessarily true? Before we address that notion, lets review the weather pattern thus far this water year and what the weather looks like for the remainder of the winter. For climate purposes in the western U.S., the water year is defined as the 12-month period beginning in October. Since October, the western U.S. has generally been affected by a persistent ridge of high pressure fixed just off the coast. Meanwhile, the remainder of the U.S. has seen a rather persistent trough of low pressure. http://inlandnorthwestweather.blogspot.com/2014/01/does-dry-winter-lead-to-bad-fire-season.html