Drought worsens out west - Wildfires continue to burn

The drought in the west and northwest will likely take years to reverse if the predicted El Niño this winter doesn't bring some much needed rainfall.  Although, the downside to that is if the expected rain comes, flooding could be a major issue.

Over the past several months the dry, hot and breezy conditions have fueled wildfires to where nearly 70 fires are burning throughout the west and northwest, some very large.  So much so, that a record number of 42 National Weather Service Meteorologist from around the country have been deployed to assist with the firefighting efforts.  And for the first time since 2006, nearly 200 active duty military personal have been called in to help.

Monsoonal rains will help in the southwest, but not further north where rain is needed most.  So as the fires continue to burn, the effects of it will still be felt and seen across the United States.  The image to the left is a visible satellite image (snap shot of cloud cover) across the middle of the country shortly after 6:30pm Tuesday evening.  Highlighted across the Great Lakes is cloud cover from an exiting low pressure system.  And cloud cover can be seen further west as well.  But in the middle, the more lighter white/gray coloring is the smoke and haze from the wildfires.

If you can remember back about a month and a half ago, our skies were hazy for about a weeks time due to wildfires in Canada.  As the jet stream winds shift slightly further east towards the Great Lakes, and as our skies clear from the cloud cover you may notice a little more milky, or hazy, look to them.  This would be from smoke from those fires out west.  It won't get nearly as bad as what they're experiencing from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana where Air Quality Alerts are in effect until further notice due to high concentrations of smoke.  Our blue skies may not look quite as blue late Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.