00:00If the ground is mud, how are we in fire season?
00:03It's early spring, snow just melted, boots are sinking into the ground, it looks wet.
00:08So why are firefighters across the Midwest and Northeast on high alert for brush fires?
00:13Here's the catch. The snow is gone, but the leaves are not back.
00:17Before trees green up, sunlight hits the forest floor directly.
00:21That sun dries out last year's dead leaves and brush quickly.
00:24Now add in a windy spring day, low humidity, and all that dry, lightweight vegetation sitting just inches above soggy
00:31soil becomes easy fuel.
00:34At AccuWeather, we track this every spring.
00:36Fire weather ramps up at the exact same time mud season peaks.
00:40As a volunteer firefighter, I've responded to wildfires where trucks get stuck in the mud.
00:45Mud season and brush fire season are not opposites.
00:48In the Northeast, they actually overlap, and that short window between snow melt and full green up,
00:52it could be one of the most deceptively dangerous times of the year.
