Wildfire Season Outlook Pt 2

Wildfire Season Outlook Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The upcoming wildfire season, despite what you might hear on the news or on social media, does not appear to be dire or anywhere even close.

University of Washington professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Cliff Mass says to the contrary, all of his sources are showing conditions as we move deeper into the summer months appear to look quite favorable …

MASS … “Looking at all the best models and, you know, I’m looking at the European Center and some of the really, the best tools we have. None of them show drier than normal conditions over the summer. So, what they’re showing is wetter than normal for the next month and then near normal the rest of the summer. That’s what the best models are indicating right now.”

And as we all know, Mass says, summer here starts on July 5th …

MASS … “And it does, I mean basically June tends to be very, it tends to be cloudy here. They call it ‘Junuary’ and ‘June Gloom,’ but there’s a reason for that and that’s because high pressure starts building up in the Eastern Pacific, pushes the cool marine air and cloudy marine air into us in June.”

But, Mass says the best news is found east of the Cascades …

MASS … “If you look at the percentage of average precipitation, the place that’s been most anomalous the last month is Eastern Washington and the Northeast Washington. So, it’s been overall wetter than normal, the whole state, but the eastern side is the one that’s been really wet, okay, and that’s actually good because that’s where the wildfires are.”

Tune in tomorrow for more on this promising outlook for our upcoming wildfire season.

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