National Parks Traveler Podcast | Summer Wildfire Outlook in the Park System

A winter heavy in snowfall has slowed the start to the wildfire season across parts of the West, although the return of the El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean could reverse that start and contribute to another smoky summer in the National Park System west of the Continental Divide.

Climate change, coupled with the departure of the La Niña weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean and the arrival of the El Niño pattern, are making it more challenging to predict fire seasons and fire behavior from year to year.  

Last year when we talked with James Wallman, a meteorologist in the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, he said fire managers don’t know what the “new normal” in wildfire seasons and behavior is because “everything is still changing."

With a somewhat slow start to the 2023 fire season in the Southwest, and drier weather patterns over the Northwest, what can we expect from this year's fire season across the National Park System? We’ll be back in a minute with Mr. Wallman to see.