New Data: Fire Weather Days Surge in West Texas

Fire weather days are simply defined as days which are most favorable for a fire to form and spread due to weather conditions. Such conditions include low humidity due to a dry airmass, warm temperatures and windy conditions. Areas in the Southwestern United States tend to see these types of weather conditions more often than other regions, but West Texas now seems especially at risk.

Analysis of data from NOAA by Climate Central finds that fire weather days are much more of a problem in the western states, but have increased nationwide in recent years. They also found that 87% of wildfires were started by human activities while lightning and other natural events accounted for the rest.

What is causing the increase in fire weather days in West Texas?

According to Western Fire Chiefs Association, dry and windy conditions for a period of 3 to 4 weeks at a time can lead to increased fire danger for Texas, which then increases the drought severity. Drought conditions following a wetter season can also lead to more wildfires if there's more plant growth which then dries out. If you look at a new graphic shared by Climate Central, you can see that West Texas is seeing a great increase in fire weather days. The darker the red on the map, the bigger the increase in fire danger.

How are Texas residents relocation decisions affecting the fire weather danger?

In recent years, people have been starting to live more along the fringes of urban areas. Science News calls it the wildland-urban interface, or WUI, and increased population in these areas means more people are living right on the edge of undeveloped land where wildfires can spread much more quickly.

According to new research at the University of Montana, fire suppression strategies used in the past to try to limit the spread of wildfires has actually made the problem worse. Instead of smaller fires that are more easily contained, larger and faster-burning fires are possible due to built up fuels in brushlands and forests.

If you look at the drought conditions in west Texas, it doesn't look like there's much relief in sight based on this map just shared by the US Drought Monitor. It looks like Texans will need to stay fire weather aware for the foreseeable future.