Wildfire Season in U.S. West Ends With Fewer Blazes, Less Damage
November rains effectively doused the season in California, where 362,403 acres have burned this year through Monday, compared with 2.6 million over the same period in 2021 and a five-year annual average of 2.2 million, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
A strong monsoon season also kept fire activity below normal in states such as Arizona, where 160,770 acres have burned compared with 524,428 last year, according to the Southwest Coordination Center, an interagency fire group.
In an area that covers Nevada, Utah and parts of Idaho and Wyoming, 423,345 acres have burned this year, compared with a five-year annual average of 1.2 million, according to the Great Basin Coordination Center, another interagency fire group.
Chen have some interesting work in progress. They used 24 years of satellite data to construct a global annual burn area series. Burned area declined 1.2% per year for a total decrease of 24%. The decrease was from savannah and grassland fires (think Maui); forest fires (think Quebec) did not show any trend.