Praying that Idaho Fire Season Doesn’t Match Last Year

What surprises me is that the number of blazes isn’t higher.  Or that there aren’t larger fires.  There are a lot of burns in Idaho, but after some of the devastating burns last year, and dry conditions this summer, I was expecting that we would be choking on smoke by August 1^st.  My apologies to those of you who live in areas impacted by current fires, but the predictions don’t seem to be quite as bad as I read about in June.

A Line of Thunderstorms had Me Worried

I watched a storm front move through quickly on the night of the 31^st.  Then I heard rumbles of distant thunder and the sound of a few drops of rain against my windows.  Then I didn’t hear much of anything else the rest of the night.

Some slightly cooler temperatures are expected next week, and friends who are meteorologists have told me that if a daytime high backs off by just a few degrees on a sunny day that it can reduce the threat of pop-up storms.  There are multiple causes of fires, but lightning strikes aren’t something we have a lot of control over.

Some Years, Fire-Season is Gut-Wrenching

By late summer last year, there was almost a sense of hopelessness as some fires burned and burned and burned.  It was breeding a culture of despair.

Judging by our usual seasonal patterns, we may not see much rain for another couple of months.  We pray, and realize a good soaking rain may be months away.