Southeast Could Face Yearlong Wildfire Season

Map of wildfires that broke out Feb. 10, 2008 across the Southeastern U.S.

Photo: NASA Earth Obervatory

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The Southeast faces a fire season that has already started and that could extend far beyond the normal, according to the News and Observer. The seasons could be meaningless, as the fire risk stays high year-round.

The reason is plain: Drought.

The region has been suffering from a months-long drought that in many places is historic. At no time in recorded history has it been this dry for this long.

In recent days, hundreds of fires broke out across the region – the News and Observer referred to it as an "epidemic" in North Carolina, where the 10,000 acres that burned last weekend amount to half the total acreage of a typical fire season.

Low humidity and high winds contributed to the immediate risk, but the long-term risk is embodied by low reservoirs, dry fields and dead tinder-dry vegetation.

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