Warm March and little snow and rain = Early and Intense Fire Season

And according to this report from MSNBC 25 - yes 25 - East Coast States are on Red Flag warning for wild fires.

Twenty-five states, all east of the Rockies, posted their warmest January-March periods on record, and many Northeastern states have had their driest starts ever.

 

"Those two factors, and recent wind, is a perfect recipe for fire" in the eastern U.S., Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel told NBC News.

Humidity also also been low, and there's lots of fuel in the form of brush to burn.

"We haven't seen many rainstorms nor snowstorms and all the vegetation that grew up rapidly from last winter's rainfall is just all dry and ready to burn," noted meteorologist Janice Huff of New York's WNBC-TV.

On Wednesday, the immediate threat shifted west as "red flag warnings" advising of severe fire potential were posted for parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

This report from Reuters shows how bad it is already and this is just the beginning.

Raging wildfires fueled by strong winds scorched thousands of acres (hundreds of hectares) in New Jersey and on New York's Long Island on Tuesday as firefighters scrambled aircraft to contain the blazes.

 

A snowless winter and dry spring have transformed the New York City metropolitan area into a tinderbox, with recent strong winds fanning the flames, authorities said.

Wildfires were also reported in several states along the eastern seaboard.

On eastern Long Island, where New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency, three sections within a 2,000-acre (809 hectare) area were burning. But a fire was extinguished on the grounds of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, a nuclear physics facility about 70 miles of New York City, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone told a news conference.

In southern New Jersey, a blaze persisted in a 1,000-acre area of the picturesque Pine Barrens but was contained on the firing range at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, where it scorched 300 acres. Military firefighters succeeded in containing the fire on the base and were concentrating on putting out hot spots, said Staff Sergeant David Carbajal.

With winds predicted to strengthen, firefighters on Long Island rushed to complete water drops from aircraft scouting the fire.

"We're trying to get water dropped on those hot spots before the wind picks up," said New York's Commissioner of Homeland Security Jerry Hauer. "This has caused damage to homes, it has caused evacuations."

I used to live in Central Florida so I know how bad it can get there. With massive wildfires that had raged through Brevard, Volusia and Flagler Counties. One that nearly wiped out the city of Flagler Beach. In 1998 over 450,000 acres of land were on fire in Central Florida alone. And even a small one behind my old apartment that nearly set it a blaze the year before I moved.

This year looks like it maybe just as bad, if not worse.