Start stocking up on the eye drops and particulate masks, and if you haven’t installed an air filter or air conditioner yet, it may be time to start saving up — the Pacific Northwest wildfire season could be a doozy.
Following on the heels of two historically bad fire seasons in 2017 and 2018, conditions could be ripe for wildfires before the summer even arrives, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2019 U.S. flood and climate outlook for spring 2019 released Thursday.
According to that outlook, most of the Pacific Northwest, and particularly Western Washington, is expected to be warmer and drier than normal in April and May, meaning trees and grasses in the area could already be dangerously dry by the time summer’s heat arrives. “It makes me nervous,” Whatcom County Fire District 1 Chief Mel Blankers told The Bellingham Herald.