DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Recent weather, including April’s warm and May’s cool temperatures, and the lack of rain have affected strawberries at local farms, including Tebbs Farms and Greenhouses in Loyalsock Township.

The region is facing bone-dry conditions, with grass turning yellow and brown, mulch and brush piles and woodlands catching on fire and plants begging for water.

Greater Williamsport is edging toward a drought, and firefighters are on alert this week as an “elevated to critical threat for fires” caused by outdoor burning due to the dry and windy conditions and dry thunderstorms is in effect and released Tuesday by the National Weather Service in State College.

Jeffrey L. Hutchins, director of the Lycoming County Department of Public Safety, issued a burn advisory notice Tuesday.

In it, he said record low groundwater and stream levels with drier than normal conditions, with no significant rainfall being forecast, has elevated the potential for wildfires to “very high” throughout the county.

Wildfire danger in the Tiadaghton State Forest has been elevated to “high” and the region is under a Fire Weather Watch, he said.

Williamsport and Old Lycoming Township also issued prohibitions on burning.

Ninety-eight percent of the wildfires in Pennsylvania are a direct result of people’s actions and place emergency responders directly in harm’s way as well as tying up apparatus that serve the community in the event of traffic accidents, house fires and other emergencies, he said.

Emergency measures are required to reduce the severity of this danger in order to protect the health, safety, welfare and property of the residents of the county, he noted.

The department issued a burn advisory, in which residents should consider

restricting any open burning until significant rainfall is received and conditions improve.

Open burning is defined as the ignition and subsequent burning of any combustible material (campfires, garbage, grass, leaves, twigs, litter or any sort of debris) out of doors, either in a burn barrel (screened or unscreened) or on the ground. Propane or gas stoves, charcoal briquette grills, or the use of smoking tobacco in any form should be extremely monitored.

Local municipalities may impose stricter burn bans. Affected areas for elevated fire weather in this region include Northern Clinton, Northern Lycoming, Sullivan, Southern Clinton, Southern Lycoming, Union, Snyder, Montour and Northumberland counties. There are chances for showers for the remainder of the week but it’s considered hit and miss, according to the NWS.

Communities in the Greater Williamsport area aren’t taking an chances.

Hepburn Township supervisors, along with Nathan J. Confer, that township fire chief, put an immediate outdoor burning ban in place until midnight on June 16. Williamsport’s and Old Lycoming Township’s bans are also in effect until then.

Conditions have forced the township ban, which means no open outdoor burning is permitted, according to the notice.

This includes but is not limited to any combustible materials such as paper, grass, twigs, wood or any vegetative material, whether in a container or on the ground. It includes any campfires or other recreational burning, which is prohibited, Confer stated.

For any questions about the burning ban, please do not hesitate to call the Fire Station at 570-494-0411, he said.

Conditions are right for rapid wildfire growth. Outdoor burning is not recommended.

Isolated thunderstorm storms are possible with these weather conditions and any lightning that strikes could burn dry grass or timber in the woodlands.

AccuWeather on Tuesday also downgraded the region’s air quality to poor. The weather service listed Bradford County’s air as unhealthy, prompting Towanda Area High School to relocate its commencement inside.

Tebbs Farms & Greenhouses at 1620 Four Mile Drive posted a notice about the conditions for strawberries on its facebook site.

It stated the unusually warm weather in April sprouted blossoms, the unusually cool weather in May halted them and froze them and the unusual dry spell this month is not helping matters. A sign indicated no strawberries were available at the market which is undergoing a rebuild.

Tebbs also noted how farmers are at the mercy of weather for the remainder of the year.