More disastrous wildfires in other parts of the world

It’s another season with disastrous wildfires. The latest one occurred in Maui, one of Hawaii’s elite islands that is a popular tourist destination. Maui is a normally wet and tropical location, but last week, one of the most disastrous wildfires in U.S. history destroyed Lahaina, the island’s main tourist hub and economic center. It was Hawaii’s worst natural disaster in history.

The fire was the deadliest since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, where at least 85 people were killed in that horrible blaze. Lahaina was also a historic tourist destination as it hosted dozens of art galleries, plus many specialty shops and restaurants. It’s estimated that over 2,200 structures were either damaged or destroyed, which is practically the entire town. Lahaina was the capital of Hawaii for 50 years before being replaced by Honolulu.

Many have described the region as a “war zone.” I have an aunt who lives near Honolulu, the island of Oahu, and she told me that many were terrified for the people in Maui and pointed out several additional fires that were ignited on Hawaii’s Big Island.

It’s not clear what started the blaze, but when it began, it spread very quickly. Despite Maui having a tropical climate, the weather has been dry due to its typical dry season at this time of year creating drought conditions. Windy conditions were generated as Hurricane Dora passed to the south of Maui, and with a strong high-pressure system to the north, the difference in pressure created strong winds of over 60 miles per hour on the island that quickly fanned the blaze. It was reported that the wildfire burned vegetation and structures all the way to the ocean and some residents and tourists escaped into the ocean to avoid the heat and flames.

Our Canadian friends to the north are also suffering through their worst wildfire season in recorded history. Since the beginning of January, there have been over 5,400 blazes that have burned at least 32 million acres. Most of the active wildfires have been in British Columbia, Canada’s western province. The most recent blaze is the Donnie Creek wildfire that has consumed about 1.4 million acres. It’s also the largest wildfire in British Columbia’s history.

According to an article from The Guardian, Canada’s firefighter resources are thin and firefighting applicants are at the lowest level. Hundreds of firefighters from other countries, including the U.S., Mexico, Australia, South Africa and Brazil have been contacted for help with the blazes.

Wildfires have also been reported across many European countries, especially in southern Europe. Record temperatures have helped fuel “unprecedented forest fires” in Turkey, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other countries in southern Europe. In July, wildfires scorched forests across Russia, including the Siberian forests.

In the U.S., it’s been very hot and dry across parts of the southern states. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, large new fires broke out last week across Texas and Louisiana. As of late last week, there have been over 80 large wildfires that have burned over a half-million acres in 12 states. Most of the recent fires are located in Alaska, with about two dozen blazes reported. Montana and Idaho were reporting 10 large wildfires as of the weekend.

Despite the horrible blazes in Hawaii and other parts of the country, the U.S. has seen the lowest number of burned acres in more than 10 years. According to the latest data, from Jan. 1 through Aug. 11, 2023, about 1.54 million acres have burned in the U.S. Last year at this time, the number of acres burned was close to 6 million. In 2015, a very bad fire season, over 6.2 million acres were burned through early August.

In terms of the number of fires, there have been close to 34,000 blazes through Aug. 11, higher than last year at this time with just over 20,000. In 2017 and 2018, there were over 40,000 blazes from Jan. 1 through Aug. 11.

It’s been a very dry summer in Coeur d’Alene and the rest of the Inland Northwest. For the summer of 2023, only 0.68 inches of rain has fallen. This is well below the average summer precipitation to date, beginning June 21, of 1.97 inches. At the Spokane International Airport, only 0.37 inches of rain has fallen this summer. For the entire summer season in 2022, only 0.98 inches of moisture was recorded.

It still looks hot and dry in our part of the country this week as a strong ridge of high pressure dominates much of the western states. We’ll likely have the hottest weather of the season with highs near or above 100 degrees over the next three days. However, there is a chance of some showers or isolated thunderstorms later next week and around the full moon cycle that starts Aug. 30. However, overall conditions are still expected to be drier than normal into September.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com.