2021 Saw Driest Summer In Yellowstone Since The Dust Bowl; Rain In Some Areas Down 75% For June
In June, some areas of Yellowstone National Park received less than one quarter the amount of precipitation compared to the 30-year average.
The lack of rain in June and throughout much of the summer meant the park saw some of its driest conditions since the 1930 Dust Bowl era, said Cam Sholly, superintendent, in a webinar sponsored by the United States Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites.
The hour-long discussion was wide-ranging, covering topics as diverse as record visitation and the return of large predators to the park. Yet one issue stood above the others. “Climate change, by far, is the single biggest threat to Yellowstone and its ecosystem,” Sholly said, noting that by the middle of the century the climate in the park is predicted to be closer to what northern Utah, roughly 200 miles farther south, now experiences. “We need to know and understand what we can control and mitigate to protect the species and the ecosystem health in this park that are under threat from climate change,” he said.
Yellowstone’s dry June meant park fire managers couldn’t light many of the prescribed fires that were planned. Such controlled fires help the National Park Service remove fuels to prevent larger blazes, like the 1988 fires that swept across about half of the 2.2 million-acre park. “In hindsight it was very beneficial,” Sholly said of the ‘88 fires, since the park is a fire-adapted ecosystem. But as trees and the understory have regrown, conditions for another big fire have ripened. “We don’t want to set up the situation where we burn half the park in the future,” he said.
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