THE NORTH WIND

When the north wind blows in the late spring and early summer it brings hot dry weather.   The green grass begins to turn brown and the fire danger increases.   There is the threat of trees or branches hitting power lines and sparking a fire.   This has happened over the last decade causing catastrophic fires throughout the west.   My first experience was in the summer of 1962 seeing a fire started from a down power line, west of Willows in the foothills of the Sacramento Valley.   The north wind blew it south through dry grass to the Colusa County line by the end of the day destroying 60,000 acres, including livestock, fences, barns and a few homes.  Nothing could stop it.  Sometime when we lived in Gold Beach between 1979 and 1986 a fire started in the beach grass along the ocean west of the city and spread rapidly south along the beach from the north wind.   All the city fire department and the Oregon Department of Forestry could do was keep the fire from getting into town.   Now that we are a few days away from the start of summer 2026 with moderate fire danger, the north wind blows during the day, and into the nights.  The big question is what will the north wind do this fire season and where?