The threat of wildfires is growing in Florida over the coming weeks as more than half the state is experiencing severe to extreme drought conditions likely to persist until rainy season resumes around mid-May, state and federal officials said Thursday.
The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center reported Thursday that 55 per cent of Florida is in the severe to extreme drought category, with most of the rest of the state listed as "abnormally dry." The driest conditions are in southwest Florida, the same region hammered by Hurricane Ian in September.
Indeed, since Jan. 1 more than 1,000 wildfires in Florida have burned over 33,000 acres , according to state statistics. No evacuations, injuries or major damage to structures have been reported from the fires so far, but that could quickly change as April temperatures heat up without the frequent rainstorms that occur in summer.
Last year, more than 1,100 people were evacuated during huge wildfires in the Florida Panhandle, much of it the result of dead timber and forest debris left over from Hurricane Michael's path of destruction in 2018. Officials estimated then that Michael, a Category 5 cyclone, left behind 72 million tons of fallen trees in the area around Panama City.
Officials fear the southwest part of the state where Hurricane Ian's 150 mph winds downed thousands of trees could also become a tinderbox. It's also the only area in Florida in the "extreme" drought category, according to the weather service.
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