Heat wave hits Sanders County: County will go to Stage 1 fire restrictions Friday, July 3

SANDERS COUNTY – Last week culminated with a potent heat wave across the entirety of Sanders County.

Temperatures moved above 100 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday, and Friday and Monday’s temps were also in the high 90s.

The recent heat wave has prompted Sanders County to prepare to go to Stage 1 fire restrictions.

According to Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Naegali the restrictions will go into effect on Friday, July 3.

In Sanders County and wide swaths of western Montana, June of 2015 has featured historic highs in terms of temperatures and historic lows in terms of precipitation.

In addition to raising fire conditions to very high in the western and eastern portions of the county, these weather factors are having other impacts on both Sanders and Mineral counties.

District Fire Management Officer Jim Ward of the Lolo National Forest, Superior Ranger District, noted stream flows are nearing record lows in both counties.

“It might be safe to say we have seen some near record stream flows for the end of June,” Ward said.   

Ward noted one potential impact of low stream flows could occur during wildfires.

Rural firefighters can utilize streams and side drainages in the immediate area of a fire to help neutralize a blaze.

With the warm and dry temperatures some of these streams may dry out earlier than normal, with the water remaining below the surface in many situations.

“In a wild land fire situation, there can be less opportunity to aid with fire suppression,” Ward said.  

Ward also described Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL), an automated system of sensors used to monitor snowpack at high elevation areas.  

In Sanders and Mineral counties the recent spate of warm temperatures have taken a toll on the area’s snowpack.

“Basically the snow pack is gone,” Ward said.

According to the weekly water and climate update issued for June 25th by the National Water and Climate Center, a part of the Natural Resources Conservation Service under the United States Department of Agriculture, both Sanders and Mineral counties have received around 25 percent of their annual precipitation for this time of summer.

Unfortunately the Northern Rockies Coordination Center Predictive Services update predicts the unseasonably warm and dry conditions will persist across western Montana and northern Idaho in the immediate future.

Ward added the high temps bear similarities to late July as opposed to late June.  

“We are almost a month ahead for everything,” Ward said.