Drought fuels an early wildfire season

drought and wildfire outlook
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As April draws to a close, wildfire season in the Southwest seems to have sprung early.

An interview by National Public RadioOpens in a new tab. revealed that 2022 is going to be an explosive year. The station interviewed Park Williams, a UCLA professor who has studied the fallout of the 23-year megadrought in the Western U.S. “We did a great job for a hundred years stopping fires,” Williams said. “But we, despite our best efforts, are losing control of the fire regime in the West. There are too many trees, and it’s too warm. Things are drying out, and we’re getting a lot of fire.”

In New Mexico, CNN reports that wildfires have burned “more acres so far this year (over 173,000) than in seven of the last eight years,” and there are a couple of months to go for the traditional wildfire season.

Arizona has also experienced an early fire season this year, with over 28,000 acres burned up in the Tunnel and Crooks fires alone. The Payson RoundupOpens in a new tab. warns that “The federal government is scrambling to find enough firefighters, air tankers and other resources to respond to a fire season that normally doesn’t get this bad until mid to late May. However, a light snowpack and a warm, dry, windy spring has supercharged the fire season this year.”

The Bureau of Land Management has been announcing numerous fire restrictions on public landsOpens in a new tab. across the west due, in part, to wildfire danger.

NOAA and the National Integrated Drought Information System offer an interactive map that shows wildfires and drought forecastsOpens in a new tab.. As shown on the image at the top of this post which shows some of the larger active wildfires, there is a correlation between drought and wildfire.

Image Source: NOAA and NIDISOpens in a new tab..

Deborah

Since 1995, Deborah has owned and operated LegalTech LLC with a focus on water rights. Before moving to Arizona in 1986, she worked as a quality control analyst for Honeywell and in commercial real estate, both in Texas. She learned about Arizona's water rights from the late and great attorney Michael Brophy of Ryley, Carlock & Applewhite. Her side interests are writing (and reading), Wordpress programming and much more.

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