The latest U.S. Drought Monitor was released this morning and the results are quite alarming.
Dry weather patterns across the majority of the country have led to expanded drought conditions. A lack of precipitation combined with above-normal temperatures has many locations across the country at or near record dryness for this time of year. The wettest area in the country was the Pacific Northwest where some locations saw just over 2 inches of rain for the entire week.
Those dry conditions have led to increased fire risks in Oklahoma where the state’s forester says that weather patterns have had a tremendous impact on wildland fule throughout most of the state.
According to Mark Goeller, “The drought that we’ve seen and the lack of rainfall and the weather pattern that we’ve been experiencing over the last couple of months has really made an impact on our wildland fuels situation across the state. Except, there’s a few areas that are out of that, it’s like the Oklahoma Panhandle, the far northwest, which is really unusual, and then just little corners here and there, but for the most part our wildland fuels statewide are extremely dry.”
The extreme conditions have prompted some to action. Goeller says that landowners can be proactive by enforcing some preventative measures such as firebreaks.
“We need places where we can stop a fire. Anytime that we have a problem fire, the way that we approach it is to find a favorable chance in fuels, weather, or topography then that’s what we’re going to try to take advantage of in order to stop a problematic fire,” he explains. “So, producers, anybody out in the countryside, if they have a firebreak around their home, around their fields— that’s that chance in fuel. That’s what we need.”
Oklahoma is not alone. States like Illinois and Indiana have also raised alarm over dry conditions. They have issued red flag warnings and urged farmers to be careful with machinery.
