Clear sunny summer days were replaced with a smoky haze. Drought. High fire danger. Burning bans. All of these were characteristics many people experienced over the past few months. While we normally think of spring as the most critical time for wildfires in Wisconsin, they can happen during summer and fall as well, due to seasonal drought and fallen dry, dead leaves. While the hazy skies didn’t result from local wildfires, in 2023 already there have been 924 wildfires that burned 4,390 acres in Wisconsin.