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 >

December 2022 was certainly historic in several ways. For Duluth alone, several daily snowfall records were broken, and with an inch of snow that fell on December 31, the monthly snowfall record was broken as well. Elsewhere, below normal temperatures and above average precipitation and snowfall was the overall trend, which is consistent with patterns we normally see during a La Niña pattern. With all the added moisture, Lake Superior is sitting at about a foot above average and drought conditions have improved a bit more across the region.

For the rest of January, the CPC is forecasting above normal temperatures and precipitation. Equal chances to perhaps below normal temperatures are favored in the 3-month outlook with above normal precipitation.