A wet spring is helping tamp down wildfire predictions in much of Idaho as we head into summer.
Big fires are unlikely in most of Idaho and above all, it should be an average season. That’s according to the latest forecast from the National Interagency Fire Center, or NIFC.
You know all that rain and snow we’ve gotten over the past few months? There’s supposed to be more of that coming as we move into June, says Bryan Henry, a meteorologist with NIFC.
That’ll keep the ground soaked and beat back conditions that’d normally dry up Idaho’s forests into kindling.
“We’re going to continue to have these little systems come in from the Pacific Ocean and it may give us some periodic shots of moisture so that while we will warm up and dry out, this pattern may help keep the fuels from becoming so critically dry like we’ve become accustomed to seeing in the past,” Henry said.
NIFC is predicting a below normal fire season for eastern Idaho and central Utah. The tip of the Idaho Panhandle, however, could see some bigger burns starting in August.
For the rest of the region, most of the hot spots are on the West Coast – all the way from British Columbia, down the Cascades to the Mexican border with California.
Fire season is expected to start there soon and ramp up in July.
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