Multiple fire calls have been made the past few days to the Washington County Communications Center. Dry conditions have made for an elevated fire risk, in part to snow drought.  There have been 13 fire calls into the Communications Center since Sunday. 

Washington County and the KCII listening area at-large is in a snow drought. According to the National Weather Service, snow drought occurs when there is a period of abnormally low snowpack for the time of year in question either due to low precipitation or warm temperatures causing early snowmelt. 

The record high temperature was beaten on Monday in Washington at 66 degrees, the previous record high was set in 1987 at just over 50 degrees. 

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the entirety of southeast Iowa is abnormally dry, and a burn ban has been put in place in Muscatine, Scott and Clinton counties. The National Weather Service of the Quad Cities has stated that warm temperatures combined with dry conditions and southeast winds gusting 25 to 35 miles per hour will produce elevated fire danger conditions. Any fire that develops will spread quickly.  

Tune into KCII for all of your weather updates.