Wildfire risk to grow as summer heats up
Experts warn June will see greater threat
Much of Arizona this spring has enjoyed having the usual stretches of hot weather broken up by a few days of cooler temperatures and even a little rain.
While those brief breaks have allowed us to put off having to cope with the intense summer heat that’s sure to come, they may also be adding to an intense wildfire season.
Those periods of cooler weather are allowing more time for the grasses and other fuels that wildfires thrive on to grow. When those materials eventually die and dry out, they could add to the intensity of any fires that come along, particularly in the state’s lower elevations (below 3,500 feet).
Chuck Maxwell is program manager meteorologist at the Southwest Coordination Center, an agency that helps coordinate wildland firefighting resources in Arizona, New Mexico and parts of west Texas. He works on the Significant Fire Potential Outlook for the region.
The most recent forecast calls for a normal outlook through the end of May, but the risks rise to above normal in June.
“We’re not seeing the alignment of winds, heat and dryness that we normally see,” Maxwell said. “And the fine fuels are still growing and don’t want to burn as much. But we expect those fine fuels to eventually peter out during the heat of summer. That’s why we’re looking for things to ramp up quickly to above normal across the areas of Arizona where the fine fuels are more prominent.”
There could be significant risk in the higher elevations too.
Though there were a few winter storms that made their way through northern Arizona this year, many of those were warmer weather events that didn’t deliver much snow.
“The higher elevations are a concern as well because of the lack of snowpack and precipitation,” National Weather Service-Phoenix meteorologist Valerie
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