Carolina wildfires followed months of weather whiplash, from drought to hurricane-fueled floods and back to drought

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Lauren Lowman, Wake Forest University and Nick Corak, Wake Forest University

(THE CONVERSATION) Scores of wildfires broke out across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in early March 2025 as strong winds, abnormally dry conditions and low humidity combined to kindle and spread the flames.

The fires followed a year of weather whiplash in the Carolinas, from a flash drought over the summer to extreme hurricane flooding in September, and then back to drought again. Storms on March 5, 2025, helped douse many of the fires still burning, but the Southeast fire season is only beginning. Wake Forest University wildfire experts Lauren Lowman and Nick Corak put the fires and...