The dry weather continues this evening. It’s 63 degrees and very clear, you can see a lot of stars. Fifty six tonight.

The humidity creeps in for the weekend but mostly dry conditions. Looks like we might get some much needed rain come next Monday or Tuesday, with seasonal weather come Wednesday in the upper 60s for highs. Hopefully that will end wildfire season in most areas.

NOAA said that we were 17 degrees below normal in March and 17 degrees above normal for May. Weather after all is about averages. Hopefully we will get caught up on rain in the next week.

All this dry weather has to be good for the Adirondack truck trails opening by Memorial Day Weekend. I keep checking for updates on Moose River Plains on Facebook and DEC website, and have Google Alerts scheduled.

Those wildfire pictures from this week are dramatic but are not uncommon for this time of year. Especially in the Shawgunks, wildfire is a natural part of the ecosystem – the fires appear to be ground fires rather than destructive crown fires. Timber loss will be minimal and the whole area will be greener than before. Getting rid of some of the laurel and trash species isn’t a bad thing.

I’ve heard that the insurance industry doesn’t mind wildfires that much as they generally are small loses compared to ordinary house fires. Few rural houses burn in wildfires versus common urban fires. Wildfires have limited liability and in many cases people are able to get valuables and cars out before houses burn. Clean up is a lot cheaper than hurricane and tornado damage… Wildfires don’t typically wash out driveways or leave a lot of rubble.

Obviously more controlled burns rather than unpredictable would be desirable to reduce the fuel load and improve ecological diversity. Condemning houses in high fire risk areas should be done, so controlled burns can be done safely.