It has already been a dreadful year for wildfires.
More than 14,781 separate wildfires have scorched over half a million acres as of this week, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, the largest number of fires year-to-date the agency has recorded in the past decade.
But many of these recent fires haven't been igniting in California or the Pacific Northwest, which have endured several devastating fire seasons in a row. They've been popping up in places like Colorado and Texas, and they have burned hundreds of thousands of acres in the past few weeks alone.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted drought conditions would expand eastward this spring and worsen in some locations, heightening the chance for more fires, with forecasters warning that the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and southwest Kansas face the most dangerous conditions.
