Low Fire Danger Summer, Controlled Burns

After the massive winter of 2022-2023 we had the luxury of not worrying much about fire in the Sierra Nevada mountains and conditions were ideal for more extensive controlled burning throughout the summer and into the fall.

View from an overlook above Mono Lake with a controlled burn near highway 395 in the distance.

Now we find ourselves back in the midst of a very dry winter with a well below average snowpack, so we pray for snow again. As the saying goes, it is often “feast or famine” in the Sierra where we experience either long periods of drought or massive atmospheric rivers that can provide more water than we know what to do with. Fortunately, there is still plenty of time left for things to turn around this winter, but we are still very much waiting on that first major snowstorm of the season.