Fire season in SoCal could last through December with projected lack of rain, report says

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (KABC) -- With elevated fire danger once again expected to hit Southern California by end of the week, a new report shows this fire season is going to last until the end of the year.

According to an extended forecast released Friday by the National Interagency Fire Center, the region will likely see a higher-than-normal chance for large fires across the region through December.

Experts say that's due to the usual contributors to extreme fire danger: Above-average temperatures, strong winds and extremely dry vegetation, all compounded with a lack of rain.

Those devastating conditions made for way for the multiple brush fires across the state last month, including the wind-driven Maria, Saddle Ridge and Tick fires in Southern California. Now, experts are cautioning that those blazes may offer a preview of what to expect.

"Long-range models offer little optimism that wetter weather will arrive anytime soon," the report states.

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