a rough western fire year coming....

[mike_c]

This is a map of precipitation shortfall in the American west this year to date. Unless we see some significant late season rain, this is shaping up to be a nasty fire year. Several major fires are already burning in California, and it's early May still!



on edit: that green spot in Nevada is likely so dry normally that a single thunderstorm sometime since January kicked it up to "record wetness." In other words, it's still pretty darn dry.

[kestrel91316]

1. In SoCal we've had 2 years with very few wildfires, so now it's time to pay the piper.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Off the damn record

Local fire people are afraid of breaking records in money spent... And blowing through budgets.

And yes, I expect a nasty year...so do they.

Yesterday was a foretaste of the nightmare to come.