Southern California Fire Season Will Likely Last Into December

(Bloomberg) -- California’s record wildfire season will likely drag on through December in the southern two-thirds of the state as dangerously dry conditions persist.

While rain and snow have brought relief to Northern California in recent days, there’s little chance of that anytime soon in the south, Dan McEvoy, regional climatologist at the Wester Regional Climate Center, said on a call.

“It is certainly not over for the southern half of the state,” McEvoy said on a conference call with reporters. “The set up for the winter will certainly tilt the odds for extending the fire season.”

Nearly 4.2 million acres have already burned this year across California, shattering previous records as bone-dry conditions, freak lightning and violent winds left the state ripe for conflagrations. California had its six largest fires on record this year. Over just two days in August, more than 8,500 lightning strikes set off 362 blazes.

California wasn’t alone. Fires raged across the U.S. West, with devastating blazes in Oregon, Colorado and elsewhere.

Some of California’s worst blazes have come at the end of the year, including the 2017 Thomas Fire, the seventh largest in state history. It destroyed more than 1,000 homes and buildings.

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