Summer Forecast: Hot, With Wildfire

Wildfires likely, as heat and drought mingle By Dan Shapley News Editor Temperatures across most of the country will be warmer than normal this summer, raising the chances that an already overactive wildfire season will get worse, according to the federal government's long-range weather forecasters. The East and West coasts will experience significantly above-normal temperatures for the next three months, and only a swath of the Midwestern plains shows no indication of a hotter-than-normal summer, according to the Climate Prediction Center's latest forecast. Even Alaska will be warmer than usual. Couple the temperature outlook with the nation's drought outlook, from the U.S. Drought Monitor, and you see the recipe for wildfires. Abnormally dry conditions persist throughout much of the continental United States, and "extreme" or "exceptional" droughts are present in parts of the Southwest and Southeast. Your Photos Wildfire photos submitted by The Daily Green community to the Weird Weather Watch photoblog Smoke On the Alley Is That My Exit? Pink Sun Very Real Fire Danger