Image: Wildfires cross much of southeastern United States
In discussing the fire weather outlook for the southeast United States, the Southern Area Coordination Center reported that: "Deep soil moisture and live fuel moisture dryness in southern Florida due to long-term drought conditions has created a fuel condition that supports fires of longer duration and more extreme fire behavior than would normally be expected." In addition to that, "Based on current fuel conditions and forecasted weather conditions, the most likely scenario is an above average level of wildfire activity for February to May. This level of activity will likely cause some slight increase in firefighting resources being mobilized within a state. There is also a high probability the Southern Area will see higher than normal mobilization across state boundaries for this time of the year. It is also difficult to truly predict the overall wildfire risk as climate transitions from La Niña to neutral."