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Wet May Erases Fire Risk In Area

     What a difference a month can make.  Historically one of the drier months on the calendar, the month of May delivered rainfall in a big way this year, with the results thwarting what was a growing wildfire threat in the area.
     On Monday, June 2, several weeks of steady precipitation showed Lake County had plunged from near the top of the KBDI drought index to near the bottom. On Monday, the KBDI average in Lake County was 261, down from 615 on May 2.  The KBDI measures soil moisture and indicates fire risk in a 0 (low) to 750 (high) range.
     On May 2, the county was entering its second month under a burn ban, as conditions continued to deteriorate with little rainfall and rising temperatures combined to make conditions seemingly worse each day.  However, by the middle of the month, greater amounts of measurable rainfall had fallen, and by May 15 the KBDI in Lake had fallen to 361 and has continued to decline.
     An IFAS automated weather station at the Umatilla airport reported nearly two inches of rain during the last week alone.  
     Part of that rain arrived via a storm on Friday afternoon, when a squall passing through downtown Umatilla was so strong it blew over the sign for the Umatilla Fire Department.
     Also in the past week, lightning strikes in the area of Wingfield Drive left marks at a home.