Summit County Citizens Voice

Fire potential in the Rockies is below normal in July and near normal for the rest of the summer.

To date, the number of fires across the country is about 75 percent of average

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Fire officials predicted normal to below-average potential for wildfires in most regions of the country for the next several  months as they released the official wildland fire outlook for July 1 through October 2010.

The report was issued by the Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center. For July, parts of the Southwest and interior Alaska have above-normal chances for significant fires. But predicted weather patterns, including the onset of the southwestern monsoon, will dampen the chances for major blazes later in the summer.

For the Colorado mountain region, including Summit County, the July outlook is for below-normal potential for significant fires, with a near-normal outlook for the rest of the summer and early autumn.

Here’s the outlook for our region from the National  Interagency Fire Center:

• Normal significant fire potential is forecast through October except below normal in far western Wyoming in July. Above normal rainfall occurred in early June, followed by drier weather across Colorado and to a lesser extent across Wyoming during the last half of the month. Fuel dryness is near normal for most of Colorado with the driest fuels in western Colorado and along the Front Range. Fuel moistures are generally higher than normal in Wyoming and across the rest of the Area. Short durations of fire activity are expected this summer, but overall, fire potential should be near normal across the Area.

In the northern Rockies, a cool and wet spring has delayed and shortened the fire season in the mountains. But grassland fires are likely once the grasses dry out in July, the fire experts said.

To date in 2010, there have been about 75 percent of the average number of fires across the country, burning about 76 percent of the average acreage. So far in the Rocky Mountain region, there have been 597 fires, burning 25,000 acres.

The average number of fires for July is 866, burning 38,000 acres.

Filed under: forest fires, forests, public lands, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | forest fires, Summit County News, wildfire outlook, Wildfires