Each of the last two spring seasons has been cold, wet, and late.
This one has come in early and dry. This could mean a lot more grass fires this spring.
Pre-historically and historically, prairie fires were common across our region in spring. As the snow melted each spring, hundreds of square miles of dead grass lay on the ground just waiting to burn on a hot, dry, windy day. All it needed was a bolt of lightning from a light thundershower.
As our terrain has given way to agriculture, grass fires have been reduced to ditches and the few remaining stretches of prairie. Still, an out-of-control fire is extremely dangerous. It is possible even today for fires to grow large enough to put farmsteads and even whole towns at risk.
And today's fires are more easily started by careless smokers, trains, or accidental controlled burnings growing out of control.
