We’re just days away from turning the page from summer to fall. Drought in the United States expanded and intensified in Summer 2023, largely influenced by not only lack of precipitation, but extreme heat and evaporative demand. While the number and size of wildfires were relatively small in the western U.S. compared to recent summers, unhealthy levels of smoke still poured into the contiguous United States from record-breaking Canadian wildfires, and a wildfire in dry Maui destroyed the town of Lahaina. The maps below show how precipitation, temperature, and evaporative demand influenced drought and wildfires across the United States and Canada during Summer 2023.