Heat, dry conditions will be around a while

By Larry Meyer - Argus Observer
Sunday, August 12, 2007 2:48 AM PDT

Payette firefighters put out remaining hotspots in the land adjacent to Scotch Pines Golf Course Friday morning. Wind during the storm Thursday night dragged down a golf cart shed and electrical wiring charging the golf carts sparked the fire. High temperatures are expected to continue through the rest of the month, setting the stage for even more risk regarding wildfires.

ONTARIO - Just days into August one fact has become clear: It has already been a long, hot summer with abnormally high temperatures.

Those high temperatures also put a new twist on an exceptionally severe fire season. Already, wildfires have scorched more than the average number of total acres and according to weather forecasts, very little change is expected during the next few months.

At the same time, area irrigation managers are watching precious water supplies drop steadily by the day as the heat creates greater demand.

Except for the possibility of thunderstorms, no significant amount of precipitation is expected even into the fall.

There is a 40 percent chance for temperatures to remain above normal throughout the next few weeks according to current forecast models, Dawn Sishle meteorologist at the Boise Center of the National Weather Office, said.

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Normal means highs in the 80s and low 90s, but there is also at least one weather model that shows high temperatures into September, Sishle said.

Monsoonal moisture could bring clouds to the region and an opportunity for precipitation in about a week, she said. However, Sishle said Eastern Idaho will be the more likely recipient of rains.

A serious fire season

Friday, United States Bureau of Land Management fire crews were starting to demobilize from the Butte Fire south of Juntura. The Butte Fire erupted a week ago from lightning strikes, Tracy Skerjanec, Vale BLM Fire Manager, said Friday.

With that fire contained, the amount of acreage burned on the Vale BLM District now stands at about 90,000 acres to date, with more than a month of the season to go.

“Conditions are really bad,” Skerjanec said, adding there is still quite a bit of fuel on the range from last year.

The local area did receive some rain Thursday night, he said.

“It was spotty. Where rain did come it was quite a bit,’’ Skerjanec said.

There were still puddles around Friday morning, he said. While firefighting resources are still stretched because of the number of fires around the nation, Skerjanec said he felt the Vale District was in a good position as the week came to a close.

“Most of our resources are home now,” he said. Skerjanec added, though, that some of those crews may be sent to fires in other areas.

As for the predicted thunderstorms, he said, if the storms hit directly, there will probably be some rain along with them, but those areas at the edge of the storm will probably just get lightning. As of Friday afternoon, irrigation water stored at Owyhee Reservoir was at 266,171 acre feet, while 21,316 acre feet was stored at Warm Springs Reservoir. Beulah Reservoir contained 9,391 acre feet and Bully Creek Reservoir held 5,722 acre feet of water.