National weekly acres burned in wildfire, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center

19 August 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – Famous Northwest weatherman Cliff Mass recently posted about wildfires in Washington State (A Real Surprise: FEWER Acres Than Normal Have Burned over the Northwest This Year). Professor Mass shows some great graphs from the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center of the Bureau of Land Management: Fuels and Fire Danger [pdf]. [UPDATE: Sadly, he’s been caught cherry-picking data to minimize the threat from global warming: Cliff Mass: Picking Cherries in Full Denier Mode.]

NICC updates these graphs frequently. Here’s the latest data on wildfires in the U.S. West. To call this year an “outlier” is a delightful understatement.

Alaska cumulative number of wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Alaska cumulative acres burned in wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Alaska weekly number of wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Alaska weekly acres burned in wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Northwest weekly acres burned in wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Northern California cumulative acres burned in wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Northern California weekly acres burned in wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Northern Rockies weekly number of wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Northern Rockies weekly acres burned in wildfires, week of 19 August 2015 compared with average. Graph: Northwest Interagency Coordination Center Fuels and Fire Danger