Snow and rain could reduce wildfire warnings this spring
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - A dry winter season saw the Black Hills with multiple wildfire warning alerts, but this past weekends snow could help alleviate this issue.
According to the South Dakota State Fire Meteorologist Darren Clabo and Forest Fuel Expert Chris Stover, from the middle of February to the middle of March the Black Hills saw virtually no precipitation which increased the areas wildfire risk. However, with this past weekend’s snow and this weekend’s forecasted rain, both Clabo and Stover are hopeful the precipitation numbers will go back to average.
“The nice thing about snow this time of the year is that it melts and that means that it’s getting down into the ground and into the fuels. It’s a nice soaking melt you know everything gets wet in the landscape. So definitely a lot of improvement. It’s going to take us out of the dry conditions at least in the short term, but we’ll see what summer brings,” Clabo said.
“With this moisture it’s gonna put us out for a few days, for sure. In the timber I would argue that we probably won’t see any fire in the timber. Just because this amount of moisture is going to do really well for us. That being said until we see green up in the grasses out there those fine fuels will dry very quickly and will still be receptive to fire given the right days with an ignition and with wind behind it,” Stover said.
Clabo and Stover added that despite the temptation to burn slash piles during the cooler months you shouldn’t, as the snow is fleeting and the sun angle is high this time of year which can spread fires quickly.
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