Fire and fury — two words that capture the magnitude of B.C.’s 2017 wildfire season, the worst in its recorded history.
And they may well capture the next one if conditions persist as early summer forecasts suggest.
Coverage of B.C. wildfires on Globalnews.ca:
July and August are also forecast to see elevated wildfire risks.
It’s a grim forecast for a province that saw 1.2 million hectares of land burned and 65,000 people displaced last summer.
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And whose fire season already appears to have started with a grass fire near Chase.
READ MORE: B.C. wildfire crews tackle grass fire measuring over 100 hectares east of Kamloops
Carr projects wildfire conditions by looking at factors such as whether an area is going to be warmer or cooler than normal, or whether it might see wetter or drier conditions.
And while the BC Wildfire Service finds these long-range forecasts helpful, plenty can happen between now and the summer.
“Rain is such a huge factor in terms of wildfire activity and predicting rain more than a few days ahead of time is unfortunately a difficult thing to do,” said Kevin Skrepnek, chief fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service.
While B.C. has the potential to see another active fire season, it’s not expected to come as early as the last one did.
And there’s yet another factor that could delay the flames: snowpack.
There wasn’t much of it last year. But this time there’s plenty across the province.
The snowpack projects “not necessarily how intense the season is going to be, but how soon it can start,” Skrepnek said.
So the fires may not come early. But conditions exist that could see flames scorch the province once again.
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