BROOKHAVEN — Hurricane Milton brought a deluge of rain to the Florida Panhandle making landfall as a Cat. 3 hurricane yesterday but it did not bring a single drop of rain to southwest Mississippi. Milton is actually partly to blame for the dry, sunny days this week in Lincoln County.

The National Weather Service forecasts the conditions to continue into next week without a chance of rain in sight. A new map published on Drought.Gov showed about 98 percent of Lincoln County as abnormally dry which is the first stage of drought development.

Long range forecasts by the National Weather Service do not indicate the drought will persist for Lincoln County although it could continue to get drier in the coming weeks. According to the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, Lincoln County and most of southwest Mississippi is in the 500 to 600 KBDI range. This range shows about five to six inches of rainfall are needed to return soils back to normal moisture content levels.

The current KBDI totals in Lincoln County are normal for early fall and late summer but will contribute to fire intensity as lower litter and duff layers burn more actively. Winds have calmed down in the current seven day forecast but fire risk conditions could develop over time.

This week happens to be fire prevention week according to the National Forests of Mississippi. Fire safety is everyone’s responsibility. Did you know, 9 out of 10 wildfires are caused by humans. There are a few ways you can help, be sure to fully extinguish campfires, avoid parking vehicles in tall grass that can catch fire and stay informed about weather conditions and fire advisories.