The Inland Northwest could be in for a highly active fire season this summer, despite several weeks of relatively cool, wet weather, regional fire and weather experts say.
After a somewhat dry winter and early spring in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, weather patterns have turned wetter in recent weeks, with parts of northeastern Washington receiving 8 inches of rain within the last month.
But even with a healthy snowpack at higher elevations and plenty of recent rainfall, the fire season is really dictated by what happens this summer, according to Steve Bodnar, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Spokane office.
“It doesn’t take very much at all in our region to transition to very, very dry summer,” Bodnar said.
Over the last several years, Bodnar’s office has conducted studies on how snowpack levels affect the summer fire season.