I’m in British Columbia and for months the experts have been saying how bad the drought is here, it’s going to be a rough summer, bad crops, etc. We have had a fair amount of rain the last couple of weeks but I’ve still had to water on the few sunny days. Now tonight they show the wild fire risk is low in most areas or moderate. Precious years it has taken a lot more rainy days to see the risk drop. What am I missing?
In: Planetary Science
My wife works in wildfire meteorology.
Moisture is only one component that determines how likely a wildfire is to (a) start and (b) spread. Note that (b) is far more concerning. A fire that doesn’t go anywhere is easy to control.
Other components include:
* wind
* temperature
* terrain
* dry fuel abundance (e.g. how much dry dead growth is around to burn, which can be very much independent from whether or not we are in a drought)
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