The winter and spring storms this year will likely be a blessing and possibly a curse.

That’s the word from Arizona State Forester Jeff Whitney during an annual wildfire meeting with Gov. Doug Ducey. 

Outside the State Capitol, Whitney reported fire season should be nowhere near as dangerous as last year when the Cedar Fire near Show Low threatened thousands of acres.

"This year conditions are quite a bit different,'' he said. "We were blessed with a lot of precipitation and moisture and snowfall up on the higher elevations, the Mogollon Rim.''

That precipitation followed by a late winter storm has helped keep early fire season to a minimum in the high country.

“Fire season's going to be, quote-unquote, average or normal of what we knew 20 or 30 years ago in the upper elevations," Whitney said..

But, he warned there is an excess of new growth in the mid to low elevations around the state. 

"We've got a standing crop of grass across Southern Arizona,'' he said, with "some inordinately large fires'' for this time of year.

That could cause a run on wildfires when temperatures spike across the mid-elevation chaparral southward through Arizona’s Sonoran Desert grasslands