It is no consolation to people around Boulder, Colorado, where 169 homes went up in wind-blown flames this week, but the unusual spring and summer weather over much of the country has led to an unusually quiet wildfire season so far across the United States.
Cooler-than-normal weather prevailed over much of the western U.S. during the peak wildfire months of July and August and wetter-than-normal conditions dampened the threat over much of the eastern third of the nation.
For 2010, through the end of August, a total of 43,799 fires scorched 2,600,843 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, less than half the 10-year January-to-August average of 5,462,889 acres.
"The lack of extremely hot or extremely dry weather in the West, where large fires are most common, has limited the acreage burned during the month," observes the August U.S. Wildfire report issued this week by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. By this time last year, 63,832 fires had burned 5,147,710 acres.
Moreover, in the state of Alaska, where conditions were warmer and drier than normal during August, a total of 1.1 million acres have burned, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total U.S. acreage burned so far this year.
The wildfire season is generally over in Alaska, fire officials say, and elsewhere in the west the peak summer months have passed without major conflagrations. The Predictive Services branch of the National Fire Center forecasts normal conditions over most of the nation through December, although, as shown above, there are hot spots.
While the Pacific Northwest begins to feel the cooling temperatures and rains typical of La Nina conditions strengthening in the tropical Pacific Ocean, vegetation in the mountains of Southern California is tinder-dry as the region faces the peak fire-threat season of October-November when powerful offshore "Santa Ana" winds typically develop.
Cooler-than-normal weather prevailed over much of the western U.S. during the peak wildfire months of July and August and wetter-than-normal conditions dampened the threat over much of the eastern third of the nation.
For 2010, through the end of August, a total of 43,799 fires scorched 2,600,843 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, less than half the 10-year January-to-August average of 5,462,889 acres.
"The lack of extremely hot or extremely dry weather in the West, where large fires are most common, has limited the acreage burned during the month," observes the August U.S. Wildfire report issued this week by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. By this time last year, 63,832 fires had burned 5,147,710 acres.
Moreover, in the state of Alaska, where conditions were warmer and drier than normal during August, a total of 1.1 million acres have burned, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total U.S. acreage burned so far this year.
The wildfire season is generally over in Alaska, fire officials say, and elsewhere in the west the peak summer months have passed without major conflagrations. The Predictive Services branch of the National Fire Center forecasts normal conditions over most of the nation through December, although, as shown above, there are hot spots.
While the Pacific Northwest begins to feel the cooling temperatures and rains typical of La Nina conditions strengthening in the tropical Pacific Ocean, vegetation in the mountains of Southern California is tinder-dry as the region faces the peak fire-threat season of October-November when powerful offshore "Santa Ana" winds typically develop.
Elsewhere, the agency warns in its September update, "areas of long-term dryness stretching from northeast Texas to the Mid-Atlantic states will lead to above normal fire potential during the fall fire season."
Image: Predictive Services, National Interagency Coordination Center
Tags: Forests, Meteorology, Weather, Wildfires
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