After a drier-than-normal September, northeastern Wisconsin faces an increased risk for wildfires, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is asking the public to be cautious with outdoor fires
The leading causes to increased fire risk includes dry weather, gusty winds, and small chances of precipitation, according to the DNR, along with dry vegetation from lack of rainfall.
“Part of the increased fire danger is how dry it’s been for the last month. If there’s not a lot of moisture in the soil and the air is super dry, then things can burn pretty easily,” said Timm Uhlmann, meteorologist for the National Weather Service Green Bay. “Another key component is in the afternoons, humidity values are going to be quite low. Combined with the others, that really increases the fire danger overall.”
Despite a wet summer, Green Bay didn’t see much rainfall in the month of September. Green Bay only had 0.84 inch of rainfall, which is 2.2 inches less than what was normally expected for the month. Appleton meanwhile saw around 2.1 inches of rain in September, which would be over an inch less of what the city usually receives.