Could We See Record Acreage Burned In 2020?

The year 2020 will be one to remember for a variety of reasons, so good, some not so good. This year could go down in the not-so-good category,  when looking at the number of acres burned this wildfire season.

"Only twice in modern history have we seen ten million acres burned nationally," noted USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey. "First time that happened was 2015; that's the record that still stands Ended up that year with 10.1 million acres. And then three years ago in 2017 we just barely topped the ten million acre mark with an official total of 10.03 million. acres that year."

"We've seen almost 8.5 million acres burned nationally so far this year as of October 20th and of course about half of that has burned in California alone," Rippey noted.

So, how likely is it that the U.S. will top the ten million acre benchmark in 2020?

"We're not yet to a national record but given what we have seen to this point, it would not be surprising to get at least very close to that record . And again that comes without much of a contribution from Alaska.

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia.com