Arizona faces above-normal wildfire risk

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Drought remains in place across Arizona with a likelihood of warm and dry conditions in coming months even after a recent storm dropped heavy snow across much of the state’s high country, a 2021 wildfire season outlook says.

Observations indicate nearly all of the state is covered by severe, extreme or exceptional drought, according to the outlook released Thursday by the National Weather Service’s Flagstaff office.

Conditions and indicators add up to above-normal fire threats by April at lower elevations from southeastern Arizona to Yavapai County and similar threats spreading north along the Mogollon Rim by May, the forecasters said.

Currently, “odds are tilted in favor of warmer and drier than average conditions” for February through April, forecasters wrote.