Above: Estimated precipitation July 4 to July 11, 2018. Intellicast
We have entered a relatively quiet period of wildfire activity in the western United States. On today’s national Situation Report, more fires decreased in size than increased. Of the fires that had changes of more than 100 acres, only three got larger, while five actually decreased. The reported size getting smaller is a result of more accurate mapping.
The seasonal monsoonal flow has been bringing precipitation to not only the Southwest, but it has been pushing north into parts of Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. And the typical July thunderstorms have been affecting other areas as well.
As a reminder, the National Interagency Fire Center predicted July 1 that fire activity would increase this month in parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. California has had some large fires, Utah has had several, and the Martin Fire in Northern Nevada has burned almost 440,000 acres. We’ll see what happens during the second half of the month.
The updated precipitation and temperature outlooks for the next six to ten days predict higher than normal temperatures in the far west and dry conditions in the Northwest and Northern Rockies.
