San Juan County fire officials on Monday raised the fire-risk status from low to moderate.

Fire officials cited current fuel conditions and a long-range weather forecast calling for warmer temperatures and drier weather for elevating the fire-risk mark. As a result, outdoor burning will be restricted to mornings only, 6 a.m. to noon, and fires must be completely extinguished by noon, according to San Juan Island Fire Department.

Other than recreational fires, permits are required for burning outdoors in San Juan County, either for residential or commercial purposes. The cutoff date for burning outdoors has historically been June 30, and the season typically reopens in late September.

Precipitation has been scarce in the San Juans over the past two months. In April and May, the amount of measurable rainfall at the southern end of Lopez Island hit its lowest combined two-month total in more than three decades, according to Jack Giard, who has tracked rainfall and temperatures at his Bakerview Road home for 36 consecutive years.

Giard said that the .35 inches of precipitation measured in May is the lowest total ever for that month since he began keeping records. While April did not prove a record-setter in itself, the two-month combined total eclipsed any other April-May total as the driest, Giard said.

Still, the yearly rainfall total remains on par with historical averages for the first six months of the year largely because of large amounts of rainfall earlier in the year.

— Scott Rasmussen