Another factor is the state’s ongoing drought from last year, said Steve Vavrus, Wisconsin’s state climatologist and the assistant director at the University of Wisconsin Madison’s Center for Climatic Research. About 68 percent of Wisconsin is in a drought, according to the latest data from the United States Drought Monitor. With 18.5 percent in a “severe drought” or a level two out of four.
“The concern right now, is that we’re in a drought still from last year. In fact, the drought conditions have worsened quietly in the last few weeks,” Vavrus said. “If we get a few more of the really unseasonably warm days that we had (earlier this month) … there’s legitimate concerns surrounding the higher risk of fire in Wisconsin and elsewhere.”