The mountains full of snow will delay the start of large wildfires, said Karl Hunt with Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands. On the flip side, all the moisture this spring in northern Utah will help fire-fueling grasses grow taller.
DRAPER — State and federal fire officials said there are two sides to Utah's record-breaking snow when it comes to the upcoming fire season.
"Right now we're in the green-up stage," Hunt said. "So we look around and we see all this green on the hillsides — that's eventually going to cure out. And when those cure, that's when that fire danger and that fire potential really increases." Lead meteorologist Basil Newmerzhycky with Great Basin Predictive Services said Utah's snowpack will provide weeks of fire protection in the mid to high elevations.
All that snow has to melt, and once it does so, that exposed ground has to then dry out for an additional six to nine weeks before you can even think about getting a large fire.While the grasses are already drying out in southern Utah, Newmerzhycky said the moisture should still delay large fires.
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