Burning restrictions remain across many parts of Minnesota as warm, dry, and windy weather create fire weather conditions.
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center received more than 25 reports of active wildfires throughout the state. The warm temperatures and low relative humidity produced near-critical fire weather conditions as high wind gusts made wildfire risks even greater.
The largest concentration of wildfires occurred in the central region of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro area.
"We're in a fairly active fire season. Fire seasons in the fall are not uncommon. It all depends on how the conditions set-up in the summer," said Leanne Langeberg, Public Information Officer with the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center. "What we saw in the summer developing over the summer, especially in central and southern Minnesota, was increasing drought conditions."
All of the weather conditions, combined with persistent drought impacting the state, created a high fire danger on Wednesday.
"While wildland firefighters prepare for this type of weather and resources to respond, it's days like this that we really need the public's help," Langeberg said. "They need to be mindful about what's happening with the weather, what's happening in their surroundings, and their impact with even just one spark that could lead to a wildfire."
Warm weather is expected to continue on Thursday. Rain could fall over the weekend.
"The rain forecasted to pass through the state won't quite be enough to be what we call a season ender," added Langeberg. "It'll help temporarily to slow down the conditions that are conducive to wildfire, but it's going to take a lot more precipitation in both the form of rain and really ideally in the form of snow where we get a nice cover and a nice snowpack."
