Wildfires impact the region as light rain assists in suppression efforts today

Bend, Ore (KTVZ) – The wildfires that began last week as a result of thousands of lightning strikes Wednesday and Thursday morning are continuing to impact the air quality in the region. The fires showed significant growth over the weekend. The herculean efforts of our fire fighters are awesome as a megafire complex and several other large fires continue to spread our recourses thin.

The Akawa Butte Fire near Black Butte nearly doubled in size last night and made a run to the south and west and is now over 10k acres. The Brewer fire east of Metolius is around 25k acres, the Coyote fire over the Maury Mountains in Crook County is around 16k and the Henry fire in eastern Crook Co. is estimated at around 25k. The mega fire complexes, the Hay Creek complex (in Gilliam and Sherman Counties) and the Rowe Creek complex (in Wheeler and Grant Counties) are at 92k and 142k respectively and combine several fires have been assigned separate command centers to suppress the fires.

Below is the Akawa Butte Fire, making a run to the south overnight and the smoke visible as the sun came up today.

Needless to say, the region is under attack but we have been getting much needed assistance from several out of state agencies. 

The rain today is a welcomed sight as the air has cooled under the cloud cover and the light rain is adding much needed moisture to the region.

The forecast for the next couple of days is a bit tricky as the moisture is being provided by the monsoonal flow, but also a former tropical storm that is moving north along the west coast. Elida is a storm “of tropical origin” labeled post tropical at this point due to the cooler core, is going to linger off the coast all week. That may be able to keep some cloud cover and light rain around. Unfortunately, there will be a growing dome of high pressure over Utah and the Great Basin that will be able to warm us well into the 90s if it pushes the moisture well off shore.

Highs on Tuesday are expected to hit the 90s again and if the ridge takes over, we should see this warmer pattern remain all week. There is the chance that former Elida will give us rain and a few storms on Wednesday and Thursday morning. This will be good and bad for fire suppression as erratic winds often accompany a thunderstorm.

Once the storms and showers end early Thursday, we should be in for another run of dry weather along with 90-degree heat into the weekend.

Please, Stay safe and smart.

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