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 >

November 2021 was a bit warmer than average, and many places recorded around or even above normal precipitation, which is a notable change from previous months. This is due in large part to the storm that brought heavy snow and rain November 11 and 12 across northern Minnesota, with several reports of rain in excess of 3” along the North Shore. This has led to some improvement in drought conditions, but given that we are now in the cold season and overall precipitation amounts are less compared to summer, we still remain in severe drought for most of northeastern Minnesota, and even a patch of extreme drought for a portion of the Boundary Waters.

Looking ahead, the CPC predicts slightly above normal temperatures and precipitation for the region for December. Now that we are already one week into December, that prediction is holding up well with the first major snowstorm giving nearly everyone a good dumping of snow. Drought conditions are expected to persist across northeastern Minnesota, but improvement is possible in northwest Wisconsin per the CPC.