Philly and surrounding areas are at an elevated fire risk. With no rain in the forecast, little relief is expected this week

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Fire risks are expected to remain high for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware this week as the forecast calls for little to no rain and drought conditions persist throughout each state.

The National Weather Service in Mount Holly on Sunday issued a special weather statement for elevated fire risk in the Delaware Valley, discouraging anyone from outdoor burning and urging people to properly dispose of potential ignition sources like cigarette butts.

Dry weather and wind gusts won’t help with fire risk

Meteorologist Ray Martin said despite Philadelphia’s record-setting rainfall last week, current forecasts predict the next several days to be pretty dry, which won’t do anything to quell the current fire hazards.

“The fine fuels, the dry leaves and grass … they dry out very quickly, especially when we have very low humidity for several days and a gusty wind for several days,” Martin said. “That just kind of sucks the moisture out of the small debris — grass and leaves — that’s leftover from last fall.”

Wind gusts over the weekend were reported to be between 40–50 miles per hour. Martin said March through May tends to be peak fire season for the region, which has seen “below normal precipitation” since September.

“That becomes a very good kindling for any potential sparks that could cause fires, and then with the gusty winds that are still continuing, those fires could spread rapidly,” he said.

New Jersey could have ‘quite a fire season’

In New Jersey, precipitation across every region in the state has been “moderately” to “severely low” and water supplies have reached warning levels, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

NJDEP Forest Fire Service Chief Bill Donnelly said last week that 214 forest fires had already occurred in 2025, surpassing the 67 counted for the same period in 2024.

“Not sure what the rest of the year is going to hold for us,” Donnelly said during a March 3 video call. “We’re taking the necessary steps so that we can be prepared to deal with whatever comes our way, but if things continue the way they are, [it] seems we’re going to have quite a fire season on our hands.”

In Pennsylvania, Berks and Schuylkill counties are facing drought warnings, and more than half of Delaware is experiencing severe drought.

In December 2024, the Delaware River Basin Commission declared a water supply emergency. The last time such an emergency was declared was during the 2016 drought.

Temperatures throughout the region will climb into the mid-50s and 60s this week, with highs reaching the low 70s by the weekend.