UTAH — A large cold front is expected to develop in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, June 25, 2026, and move southeast into the Intermountain West. Forecasters report that the storm will bring dry lightning along its leading edge and contribute to extreme fire danger in the region.

Basil Newmerzhycky, a forecaster for the Great Basin Coordination Center, stated on June 24, "We have high risk for lightning moving across southern and eastern areas today and tomorrow, followed by several days of strong winds." He added, "Friday into the weekend, overall fire danger is very high to extreme." Newmerzhycky also reported, "Several of our fires are already showing extreme fire behavior."

A strong windstorm is forecast to begin on Friday, June 26, in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said on June 22 that the windstorm could continue through Sunday in many areas. "A lot of the West is going to be very flammable during this period, with very low vegetation moisture, very dry fuel, essentially, and a lot of wind," Swain said. "It's widespread, it's going to be long in duration, and it's going to be occurring at an unusual time of year for there to be long-duration widespread wind events, which is summer, during fire season and during a significant drought."

Glen Merrill, a National Weather Service meteorologist and hydrologist, reported that Utah would likely see widespread wind gusts of 40-50 mph. "In Utah, we should see widespread 40-50 mph gusts," Merrill said. He noted, "That creates hazardous fire weather conditions where fires can grow really quickly." Two fires in Utah have already shown rapid growth. The Iron Fire began on Friday, June 19, 2026, near Eureka, Utah, and had burned more than 37,000 acres by June 24. "The fire came right up to the edge of the town," Merrill said. Eureka remained under evacuation orders on June 24. The Cottonwood Fire started on Monday, June 22, near Beaver, Utah, and had burned approximately 60,000 acres by June 24.

Merrill explained the context of the current conditions. "You can see, just from the rate of growth, just how quickly these fires have grown and spread," he said. "That's due to the dry vegetation and fuels the fire consumes and the weather conditions." Utah experienced its lowest-ever snowpack this year. A spring heat wave in March spiked temperatures to about 30 degrees above average, initiating an earlier-than-usual runoff. "Places that are burning now have typically just come out of their snowmelt," Merrill said. "In 2023, areas burning now still had snow on the ground." He added, "Right now, we should be topping our reservoirs off, but we've already been drawing from our reservoirs for over a month in many areas."

The National Interagency Fire Center reported on June 24 that nearly 2.8 million acres have burned so far this year, which is approximately 800,000 acres above the 10-year average for this date. Outlook maps from the center show large areas with above-average fire potential through September, with no areas predicted to be below average.