With a dry, hot first week of summer in the forecast, Clallam and Jefferson County fire officials predict an elevated fire risk that will require a burn ban for the region.
“The next chance for rain doesn’t look like until about Friday,” said Jay Neher, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
Neher on Sunday said although dry conditions will continue, it appears temperatures will drop into the 70s and 60s. Temperatures across the North Olympic Peninsula last week climbed into the low- to mid-80s, parching exposed grass in the lowlands.
Although no grass fires of note were reported in Jefferson County last week, a few were sparked in Clallam County by construction equipment, fire officials said.
The state Department of Natural Resources fire phone hotline on Sunday reported the fire dangers low in Clallam and Jefferson County. Fire officials in both counties, however, say that will change this week.
“It’s obviously a lot warmer and a lot drier than a normal June,” said Capt. Tony Hudson, Fire District 3 based in Sequim.
