Forecasters are expecting wildfire danger to increase this month in BC, despite the cool and soggy weather experienced across much of the province in June.
Conditions will likely become warmer and drier than normal from mid-July into late-August, the B.C. Wildfire Service cautioned Thursday in its latest seasonal outlook.
"Even though we've seen a slow start to our fire season, all we need is a week or so of warm, dry weather … and our fuel conditions can change quite rapidly and become receptive to ignitions," said meteorologist Matt MacDonald.
"We can only anticipate a higher number of fire starts and increased fire behaviour as we move into the later part of the summer."
The fires have also been relatively small, burning just 2,748 combined hectares, which MacDonald said was about 10 per cent of normal.
That's despite more than 60,000 lightning strikes that were recorded in June – a higher number than average.