Heat and Fire Weather Concerns in the West

Heat will build over the Intermountain West and the Southwest the next couple of days. Lightning from dry thunderstorms can create new fire starts and combined with gusty winds may cause a fire to rapidly grow in Oregon and northern California. Elevated fire weather conditions are also expected in the Great Basin. Flash flooding will be possible in Arizona and west Texas, especially in burn scars. Read More >

August was a somewhat insignificant month temperature-wise. Some areas were a bit below average, while other places were a bit above average. There was an interesting pattern with rainfall where many areas saw near average or a bit above average rainfall, except for a stripe of below average rainfall along the South Shore and extending west a bit towards Aitkin County. It is not clear if there is any notable feature that caused this, such as a persistent lake breeze, but a quick analysis of some of the rainier days around the 16th to 18th suggests that it may just be by chance. However, the lack of rain in this area, which has been experiencing dry conditions for most of summer, has resulted in an expansion of moderate drought conditions across northern Douglas and Bayfield counties with some improvement elsewhere. It has also been fairly quiet in terms of severe weather aside from three active days. Another notable feature is a high amount of flash flood and flood warnings and advisories issued on the 16th through 18th due to persistent and slow moving thunderstorms.

Looking ahead, the CPC is forecasting a continuation of warm and dry conditions as we go into September. This pattern may extend a bit into October and November. The drought conditions over northwest Wisconsin are likely to persist into the fall.