At this time last year, over two million acres had burned across Oregon and Washington, with 129 large fires. As of Wednesday, September 18, there have been 84 large fires that have burned 472,280 acres, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center (NWCC). “I subjectively feel like we have had more of a typical PNW summer overall,” says Jon Bonk, a Fire Weather Meteorologist at NWCC. “We have had the rounds of excessive lightning, but most of those afternoon and evening events came with modest or heavy rain under their cores.”
“It’s really been the overnight thunderstorms that have created the ignition problems for us in particular this year as they rarely came with beneficial rain.” When looking at the 10-year average of 1,089,697 acres burned, this season is running about 43% of average. While the season isn’t over yet, fire managers are looking at a change in the weather anticipated over the next two weeks. The fire season last year was record-setting in Oregon with 2,081,661 acres burned with 106 large fires. A large fire by definition is a fire of 100 acres or more burning in timber, or 300 acres burning in grass or brush.
