Forecasting 2021 California fire season: What we know and don’t know
Forecasters look at many factors when they’re predicting how active a fire season might be, said Nick Nauslar, fire meteorologist at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. Here are points taken into consideration when forecasting a fire season: Long-term drought: Drought cures vegetation and soils, priming the landscape to burn; Short-term drought: Spring rain can delay the start of the fire season, but in some lower-elevation areas, it can also feed the growth of vegetation that will dry out and fuel fires later in the summer. …