Wildfire Season

I still have trouble grasping the size of the state of Alaska. I think I saw one of the first wildfires of the season from our roost at UAF today (the first report was on the 6th of May). It was really far away, but we can see for literally a hundred miles or more from here (although, we can't see Russia).



I heard on APRN this morning that it is expected that we have a 'normal' fire season this year; 700,000 to 1 million acres will burn. Let me say that again, 'normal'. That is roughly between the size of the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the state of Rhode Island. Will burn.

Compare that with the record of over 5 million acres in a season (about the size of New Hampshire).