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Friday, January 15, 2016

2015 Worst US Wildfire Year on Record

View from Trout Lake, August 18, 2015.
The Okanogan Complex Fire, which started from multiple lightning strikes on August 15,
became the biggest wildfire ever in the state of Washington, burning 304, 782 acres.

From Earthsky:

According to new preliminary data released by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), wildfires scorched more than 10 million acres of land in the United States during 2015. That makes 2015 the worst wildfire year on record based on data dating back to the early 1960s. The year was marked by intense drought across much of the western U.S., which likely contributed to the high levels wildfire activity.

Read more.

Annual amount of land burned by wildfires in the U.S., according to National Interagency Fire Center data. Image via D. E. Conners, EarthSky.

Moisture levels in the state and across the west seem to be up this winter, with snowpack exceeding averages for the first time in several years, so there is cause for hope that the 2016 fire season will be nothing to write home about.

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