While rains blessed the South during the latter part of the winter, parts ofthe Southeast and the Southwest are still feeling the effects from this pastwinter's La Nina in terms of the number of wildfires. The cooler-than-averagePacific Ocean current contributes to below-average rainfall in the sunbelt.While the pattern in the Pacific is now going neutral, the extra dry vegetationlingers. This past winter's La Nina could be the cause of what appears to be avery active brush fire season this year.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), during the periodfrom Jan. 1 through April 3, 2009, nearly 580,000 acres were burned bywildfires in the United States. This figure is approximately 88,000 acres abovethe 2000-2009 average and the third greatest amount of acreage burned for thisperiod since 1999. The number of fires through March was just over 22,000, ornearly 5,500 fires above the average of 16,600 fires for the 2000-2009period.
With summer-like heat and lack of rainfall forecast for much of theSoutheast and the Northeast this weekend, we may have more incidents of brushfires to contend with in the coming days and weeks. Dry brush and lack ofrainfall from the winter, combined with strong sunshine and climbingtemperatures have lit the fuse.
A massive brush fire near Myrtle Beach has consumed nearly 20,000 acres(estimated) since igniting around noon EDT Wednesday. The land charred by thefire stretches from Conway to North Myrtle Beach. The area is one of thebusiest tourist locations in South Carolina and the Atlantic coast of theUnited States.
Winds gusting up to 30 mph helped fanned the blaze in the early stages. Thefire has consumed approximately 70 homes and damaged around 100 others. Thefire has forced around 2,500 people to evacuate between Highway 22 and MainStreet at Highway 31. Many of the area schools have already closed forFriday.
Winds continue to ease early Friday morning, but Friday afternoon winds areexpected to be from the south and southeast averaging 10 to 20 mph and maycontinue to cause issues for firefighters. Burning embers could lead to newspot fires in the area.
Myrtle Beach continues to have a rainfall deficit since last summer andbeyond. During this period, the region has received only about one third oftheir normal rainfall. Despite some significant rainfall of late, rainfall fromMarch 1 to April 22 has only been about 50 percent of normal.
Story by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski
