Rain to temporarily ease fire risk in Florida into Saturday, southeastern US
As a storm continues to slice through the southeastern United States through Saturday, some much-needed rain will reach areas in drought and experiencing wildfire risk with Florida next in line for some relief.
The National Fire has burned more than 24,000 acres in the Florida Everglades since Feb. 24. Local officials warned that dense smoke may reduce visibility and create hazardous driving conditions.
Rain and thunderstorms that sliced through the mainland Southeast states from Thursday to Friday will settle over Florida during the first part of the weekend. Enough rain will fall on some areas to ease the short-term fire risk and dry conditions.
Conditions over the region range from ample moisture in recent months to that of exceptional drought in some areas, according to the latest United States Drought Monitor. Most areas were experiencing abnormally dry conditions or worse.
The combination of dry brush, recent windy conditions and dry air has contributed to wildfires. Some of the biggest fires in recent weeks have been in Florida. One fire in the Big Cypress National Preserve, near Florida's Alligator Alley, had consumed 30,000 acres as of Friday morning.
"While most areas in the Southeast states need several days of reasonable soaking rain, which has not happened, or likely to do so soon, any rain will help to knock down the wildfire threat in the short term," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk said.
Along with the rain will be a few robust storms that can briefly become severe in portions of Florida on Saturday.
"Showers and spotty thunderstorms will provide the rain from near Interstate 4 north over the Peninsula, while the rainfall in the south-central and southeast parts of the Peninsula from Melbourne to Miami will tend to come from locally heavy, gusty thunderstorms on Saturday," Houk said.
Next week, high pressure is forecast to build over the western Atlantic and may begin to pump warmer air into the region, while the main storm track remains from the middle Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes and Northeast. This could mean only limited rainfall at best in the Southeast and Florida.
Travelers heading north into the Midwest and Northeast may encounter wintry delays due to the storm.
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