We turn our attention to the West now, wherever 60
massive wildfires are burning across the region, fueled by record
heat, dry conditions and dry thunderstorms.
Dry thunderstorms?
Well, what is that?
Well, it's in fact a thunderstorm.
But because the air is so dry, the rain that
falls out, we call it Ferga.
It evaporates before it hits the ground.
We still get lightning strikes.
Those lightning strikes are dangerous and they can be the
cause to spark wildfires.
You're looking here at the South Fork Fire in New
Mexico.
This fire consumed over 17,000 acres, Rudioso Downs, New Mexico.
You can just see the thick plume of smoke that's
been coming from those wildfires across the region.
The wildfires across the country, 240 right now, greater than
100 acres.
So far this year, 2.1 million acres have been charred.
Now, keep in mind, earlier this year we had the
Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Panhandle of Texas that burned
just over 1,000,000 acres.
So this is a pretty staggering number to see unfold
over the last several weeks, several months, even through tomorrow.
We do have critical fire danger in play.
So those fire weather warnings, they're up across Eastern Oregon,
much of Idaho and into western portions of Montana.
We have fire weather watches that continue to spread further
E as those conditions remain in place, the dry air,
the gustier winds, but also to the impact from dry
lightning.
These dry thunderstorms are expected in the forecast through the
day today.
We have a pretty significant risk of dry lightning.
That's especially in this shaded area here where you have
the red.
So this is for areas like Eastern Oregon across Idaho.
This is exactly what we were watching over this past
weekend that unfortunately came to fruition and you can see
the doing smoke too through tomorrow afternoon.
Smoke concentrations are going to be quite thick across Eastern
Oregon and this is where we've had some of the
worst air quality across the country because of this.
It tapers down just a touch, but it comes right
on back and those thick plumes stick around.
Through the end of this week.
You have John Day, Oregon with very unhealthy air quality
right now.
Burns, Oregon, Much of the same, but the entire region
has been thick with this hazy sky, and it's really
important that you are finding ways to keep yourself safe.
The air conditioner, Turn it off if you have one
and just put that wet cloth underneath your doorways.