Forecast of hot weather, thunderstorms sparks Whatcom County fire weather watch
A “fire weather watch” issued Tuesday by the National Weather Service in Seattle warns of dangerous conditions this week for the west slopes of the North Cascades in Whatcom County and elsewhere across Washington.
Temperatures of 80 degrees or warmer with humidity at 20% to 30% and gusty winds are expected above 1,500 feet, prompting the National Weather Service the fire watch on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Red flag warnings are possible if conditions worsen.
Isolated thunderstorms are in the forecast from Wednesday night through Thursday night, with erratic winds and lightning strikes possible, forecasters said.
“The main concerns with these storms will be dry lightning and the potential for strong outflows between 35 mph to 50 mph,” the weather service said online. “Storms that develop on the west slopes of the Olympics are more likely to produce a wetting rain (0.25 inches), while storms along the Cascades will produce sub-wetting rain amounts of 0.10-0.20 inches. Fire weather concerns linger into early next week as a hotter and drier pattern sets up over Western Washington, potentially increasing fire activity from any new lightning starts from Thursday’s convection.”
A lightning-caused wildfire burning in eastern Whatcom County has tripled in size over the past two weeks, with no containment as fire crews supported by helicopters try to limit its spread.
Called the Luna Fire, is started July 2 near Mount Prophet west of Ross Lake and was listed at 22.3 acres on Tuesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center and Watch Duty, a service that tracks wildland fires.
“Scattered lightning in dry fuels can cause multiple fire starts,” the weather service said. “Thunderstorms can also bring sudden sharp wind shifts on existing fires, causing rapid changes in a fire’s rate of spread and direction of spread.”
