PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The greater Philadelphia region is on track to break its record for the longest stretch without rainfall. The lack of rain has put parts of the region in a moderate drought — sparking concerns about the potential for wildfires.
In the last 45 days or so, most of the region, including South Jersey and into the Delmarva area, has only had about a half to three-quarters of an inch of rain.
“It has been so dry and now it’s starting to turn windier,” said Alex Staarmann, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey. “The air is getting drier and the soils are continuing to dry out, and we will also soon have a lot more dead leaves covering the ground.
“All of those things start working toward dangerous fire conditions. So if there is any fire that develops, it could certainly spread quickly — especially if it is a particularly breezy or dry day.”
It doesn’t look like there will be any significant rainfall in the next couple of weeks either.
“We are probably looking at going through pretty much almost nearly Halloween without any rain,” Staarmann said. “Maybe we get a dry cold front that comes through that gives us some sprinkles or something like that at some point over the next couple weeks, but definitely nothing appreciable to help solve the extremely dry conditions we have.”
Experts say most wildfires are started by people, so they urge the public to be careful with open flames. They recommend that people properly discard things like matches, cigarettes and cigars. A spark from machinery could also ignite vegetation.