2019 wildfire season: A sampling of wildfire activity in U.S. lower 48: May 29

We in the east and central portions of the United States are seeing an active weather pattern with severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, even in New Jersey. I hope that all are safe and heeding any warnings from your National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office whether they be fire related or for flash flooding, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Stay safe and be weather aware!

I am making this post and hoping to be offline before a severe thunderstorm to my west passes through my area within the next 45 minutes. We are under a tornado watch through 8 PM tonight. This is the second day in a row where we have been under a tornado watch, this is unusual for us in New Jersey and adjoining areas. So, I have to be quick to finish this up before the thunderstorm hits, I will update this post later today after the storm passes.

I was wondering about wildfire activity in the lower 48 of the United States. I'll get to that in a moment. I do know that of May 23rd that IMETs, aka Incident Meteorologists have yet to be deployed to wildfires in 2019 (see the May 23rd comment from the NWS IMET office on their May 6th Facebook Post. When I last checked the NWS IMET office Facebook page before writing this post, there were no posts about IMET deployments, however there may well be IMET deployments that I do not know about.

I read nothing into the face that there have been no IMET deployments as of May 23rd. All this could change very quickly and I suspect that in a month the situation will have changed. With that in mind, I was wondering about wildfire activity in the lower 48 states of the U.S. So, I went to Inciweb. What I share here, about four wildfires, is only a sampling of wildfire activity in the lower 48. There are likely wildfires that I do not know about.

Memorial Fire, Francis Mario National Forest, South Carolina: 1,300 acres, 85 percent containment, no structures threatened. Date of origin, May 26th.

Castolon fire, Big Bend National Park, Texas: fire started in Mexico on May 21st and jumped the Rio Grande River into Texas at Big Bend National Park on May 2nd quickly burning 944 acres, no fire growth since May 24th. Extensive damage of some park structures near Castolon (historic barracks, visitor's center and restrooms, store). Fire is 85 percent contained.

Mill Fire near Crown King, Arizona: 179 acres at 75 percent containment. last update on Inciweb was on May 8th, no growth anticipated.

Maroon fire near Flagstaff, Arizona: 100 acres, caused by lightning, date of origin was May 16th, last update on May 27th, no containment information.

IMETs save lives.

Stay safe everyone.