The BC Wildfire Service is expecting warmer and dryer conditions for June as the wildfire season continues.
During an update from the provincial government, Wildfire Officials said a record-breaking May brought hot temperatures that led to increased fire risk.
“What this did is it accelerated the curing of our fuels, of our forests, but it also accelerated the melt of our snowpacks in the alpine,” said Lead Fire Weather Forecaster, Matt MacDonald.
“What this did is made our fuels available to lightning ignition. Lightning typically strikes in the alpine at ridge top and once those forests, once those fuels are no longer buried in snow, they become receptive to fuel.”
MacDonald added that drought is also widespread and persistent in the province.
“An example I can point out is in Prince George, in the centre part of the province, where over the past 90 days, we typically would’ve picked up 115-120 mm of rain,” he explained.
“This year, we only picked up about half of that at 58 mm.”
MacDonald said temperature-wise, the seasonal outlook is pointing towards a warmer than normal summer, but these long-term forecasts need to be taken with a grain of salt.
“Right now we’re very confident this current heat spell is going to end this weekend, we’ll get into more seasonal weather next week, but then we have more heat on the way,” he said.
MacDonald said they’re expecting a dry June as well, with not enough precipitation to alleviate drought conditions.
“I should emphasize, despite the advancements in science, the skill of anything longer than perhaps a two week forecast from a rainfall perspective just simply doesn’t have too much skill,” he explained.
“We’ll have to see what the remainder of summer will bring as we get into the true core of fire season.”
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