(The Center Square) – Nevada could see a longer, more dangerous and more expensive wildfire season following the state’s warmest winter on record, according to experts.
This year’s winter has depleted the Southwestern snowpack, increasing the likelihood of wildfires in many areas and making for a potentially longer peak wildfire season, experts said.
“That time release from the snowpack slowly through the summer season keeps soils wet and vegetation green,” said Neil Lareau, a wildfire researcher and an assistant professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“When we lose the snow really early or never develop that deep winter snow pack, things start drying out a whole lot sooner,” Lareau told The Center Square. “You start that clock for the fuels drying out way sooner and lengthen your fire season.”
Despite long dry periods this winter, Nevada saw average precipitation from the beginning of December through February, according to a report from the UNR Climate Office.
But little snowpack has accumulated with this winter as the warmest in Nevada’s history, including a record low snowpack in Northern Nevada, according to the Nevada Current.
Lareau said there are many other factors for wildfire season beyond snowpack.
“Fire season has the potential to be one of the bigger years in the past decade because of the droughty and warm conditions,” said State Forester Firewarden Ryan Shane.
“It is important for the public to understand that most wildfires are human-caused and that we all play an immensely important role in preventing wildfires by avoiding actions that could spark a wildfire,” Shane told The Center Square, answering questions by email.
Experts also noted wildfire mitigation and the preparation of wildfire-prone areas for the May-October fire season will take a hit with the early snowpack melt. Because of the higher possibility of earlier fires, crews have less time to perform fuel reduction and prescribed fires, which is when an area is burned in a controlled setting.
“It really shortens the window available to do that fuel reduction work,” said Lareau. “Having a wet spring often facilitates a lot more work.” He added that fire mitigation does seem to have been able to start earlier this year, with crews already in areas that would normally be covered in snow.
Last year’s wildfire mitigation in Nevada totaled $3.6 million, according to the state Division of Forestry. Numbers show the costs of wildfires to be much higher.
Between 1980-2024, nearly half (43.2%) of Nevada’s 27 $1 billion natural events were wildfires, with the frequency increasing since the 2000s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Trump administration has since discontinued the billion-dollar event count.
The worst wildfire season by acres burned in Nevada history was 1999 at 1.8 million acres. Last year saw nearly 400,000 acres burned, with the vast majority (340,000) of acres burned by lightning-caused fires, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
This past summer, the Nevada Legislature passed a bipartisan law, Assembly Bill 376, to allow insurance providers to remove wildfire coverage from homeowner policies.
The law, which is effective as of this year, came after Nevada homeowners were being denied insurance policies because of their high risk of wildfire damage. Opponents have said the move could make for a bigger insurance crisis for at-risk Nevadans.
“People are being dropped by insurance companies throughout the West because of the potential risk to housing and infrastructure, and that’s a huge financial impact on people and on communities,” said Lareau. “It affects the sustainability of communities.”
With the risk of wildfires high this year and costs likely to grow, Lareau said there is some cause for optimism. “At the community scale, people are really recognizing this as a threat. It’s a threat to their homes, their home insurance and their enjoyment of life.”
