Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma says the province's northeast region is still facing a severe drought.
Ma said during an update Thursday (June 27) on the wildfire and drought situation that the rains in May and June have helped but the province's northeast region is still relatively dry. She added lightning strikes become more common during the summer months, which can heighten the wildfire risk.
While B.C. has seen a significant amount of precipitation over recent months, Ma said the snow cap levels are still very low. When the rains cease, much of the province will remain in extreme drought, she added.
Ma's concerns about changes into the weather sparking future fires reflect the official situation report posted Thursday. It says that northern areas continue to experience drying conditions as temperatures return to seasonal.
Ma said some 93 wildfires are currently burning across B.C., but none of the fires are considered wildfires of note. While the northeast continues to see the majority of wildfires, no evacuation alerts or orders are effective.
Ma said it was uncommon to see so many evacuations from the Fort Nelson area so early in the season, when asked she's feeling about the rest of the season. She said she would not be quite honest if she said she wasn't concerned about what that could mean for the rest of the summer.
"We were very fortunate that the situation in Fort Nelson did not escalate in the way we had feared," she said. "Remember that the Parker Lake wildfire was extremely close to the community ... had not we experienced the good fortune of some calmer winds and a little bit cooler temperatures and a little bit of rain and the hard, hard, back-breaking work of our B.C. Wildfire Service firefighters, we could be in a very, very different situation today."
Colder, wetter conditions are expected to continue in the southern half of B.C., according to the official situation report. This means below seasonal temperatures and rain. But it also means thunderstorm activity.
The rain follows two days of drier conditions in the south and southeast, and showers are forecast to be "heavy at times," especially in the southern Cariboo. It adds that thundershowers will push in from the south in the southern Okanagan, moving north through to the early afternoon.
Elsewhere in the province, the official situation report predicts thundershowers and possible dry lightning strikes.
B.C. Wildfire Service announced Tuesday (June 25) that Category 3 open burning prohibitions were rescinded for the entire Northwest Fire Centre, following recent precipitation and cooler temperatures. However, there are still active wildfires burning in the region.
– With files from Wolf Depner