Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest times of year on public lands, with families camping, hiking, and enjoying the last days of summer. It is also a time when human-caused wildfires tend to increase. Predictive Services has issued fuels and fire danger advisories for parts of the West, underscoring how quickly new ignitions could spread.
If you are heading outdoors, do your part to keep it safe: drown campfires until they are cold to the touch, keep barbecues and stoves away from dry grass, and make sure vehicles and trailers do not spark along the way. These simple steps matter for our communities, for our firefighters, and for the landscapes we all enjoy.
Today’s weather brings widespread showers and scattered thunderstorms across northern Idaho into southwest Montana, with wetter storms expected in Idaho and Montana and drier storms more likely across northern and western Washington. Farther south, isolated storms may develop across the Great Basin, Colorado, and New Mexico, while much of California and Arizona will remain drier with humidity as low as 10 percent. With 18,488 wildland firefighters and support personnel, 19 incident management teams, and hundreds of crews, engines, and helicopters already committed nationwide, preventing new starts is more important than ever.
The 2025 National Fire Year Themes remind us that it takes all of us: keeping firefighters and the public safe, working together to protect communities, reducing smoke impacts, and being responsible when we enjoy public lands. Your safe choices this holiday weekend can make the difference.
Weather
Monsoon moisture is expected to spread across much of Washington into western Montana while continuing to slowly diminish farther south. Widespread showers with scattered thunderstorms are expected in portions of northern Idaho and extending into southwest Montana. The greatest threat for drier thunderstorms is across northern and western Washington, with wetter thunderstorms in Idaho and Montana. Farther south, as moisture decreases, isolated wet thunderstorms will develop across the Great Basin, Colorado, and New Mexico, but much of California and Arizona will be drier with few if any thunderstorms. Relative humidity will remain elevated, above 20% for most areas east of the Sierra, but will drop as low as 10% in California and fall into the teens east of the Cascades in Oregon. In the eastern US, a cold front will move through Michigan and western New York with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Breezy and dry southwest winds with relative humidity as low as 30% will develop across New England and the Mid-Atlantic ahead of the front. Widespread wet thunderstorms will bring heavy rainfall from southwest Missouri to the Lower Mississippi Valley. However, thunderstorms in Texas will remain more isolated with South Texas remaining dry while scattered thunderstorms return to Florida.
Daily statistics
Number of new large fires or emergency response * New fires are identified with an asterisk
