BILLINGS — Concerns are growing about fire season in the Billings area after a dry, warm winter left the region with significantly less snow pack than normal.
Shawn Palmquist, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, said the past winter stood out for its unusual conditions.
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"We had a very, I would say, windy winter," Palmquist said. "For a lot of our region, we saw a warmer and drier than normal winter."
From golfing in December to Red Lodge Mountain struggling to keep all of its lifts running, signs of a mild winter were hard to miss across the region.
Billings recorded 40 inches of snow this past winter — 20 inches below the typical amount. With more warm weather on the way, temperatures are expected to climb this week.
"We're looking at highs most days, 70s to 80s, maybe even approaching 90 degrees for Wednesday," Palmquist said.
Those high temperatures are raising concerns, particularly following the recent East Side Fire just outside of Red Lodge.
"That's an area that saw that record low snow pack," Palmquist said.
Palmquist said that fire was a direct result of the lack of snowfall. However, he cautioned that it is too soon to predict how the full fire season will unfold.
"It's too early to tell at this point. We are still in the midst of our wettest period of the year," Palmquist said.
Palmquist said moisture over the next two months will be crucial in determining how severe fire season becomes.
"There's a lot of uncertainty with that and we'll just have to wait and see as we move forward," Palmquist said.
