smoke, wildfire, — Smoke forecast for July 18, 2022. Credit: NOAA

National Fire News

as of July 18 at 5:00 a.m. MDT (on a scale from 1 to 5)

Current hours for the National Fire Information Center are
(MST) 8:00 am – 4:30pm, Monday – Friday
208-387-5050

This report will be updated Monday through Friday.
Please check the IMSR for more information.

July 18, 2022

More than 6,300 wildland firefighters and support are assigned to wildfires across the country. Large fire activity continues in ten states where 85 incidents have burned 2,995,537. One new large fire was reported in Texas, but most of the large fire activity is in Alaska where 66 incidents are burning.

In 2022, 36,877 wildfires have burned 5,238,977. More than 33,000 of these wildfires were caused by people. The major causes of these fires are loss of control of debris burning; unattended and improperly extinguished or not extinguished campfires; and sparks or heat transfer from the use of vehicles and equipment like chain saws or recreational vehicles including trailers. Become a part of the solution. Please do your part to prevent wildfires and recreate responsibly.

Several geographic areas in the West will have above-normal fire danger as very hot and dry conditions continue. The Predictive Services fuels and fire danger summary includes more information on the current and expected conditions.

As we head into the hottest months of the year, stay up-to-date on weather, fire danger, and outlooks by visiting the Predictive Services website. Check out the National Significant wildland fire potential outlook and Predictive Services monthly seasonal outlook podcast that highlights what we can expect in July, August, September, and October.

Air quality forecast for July 18, 2022. Credit: airnow.gov

Weather

Elevated to locally critical fire weather conditions are expected across northeast California, southeast Oregon, and northwest Nevada today due to hot temperatures and breezy southwest winds amid RH of 4-15%. Hot temperatures are also forecast across much of inland California, the Great Basin, the northern High Plains, Oklahoma, and North Texas. Isolated mixed wet and dry thunderstorms will develop from the eastern Sierra into central and northeastern Nevada, southern Idaho, and northwest Utah.

Scattered mainly dry thunderstorms are expected to develop tonight across eastern Washington, the Idaho Panhandle, and western Montana ahead of an upper trough. Scattered monsoonal thunderstorms will continue across eastern Arizona, New Mexico, and the Colorado Rockies while scattered wet thunderstorms develop ahead of a cold front from the Mid- Mississippi Valley through the Appalachians into the Northeast. Below normal temperatures will continue across Alaska with rain likely for most areas south of the Brooks Range, with the heaviest rain across south-central Alaska.