What does a brown Christmas mean for farmers and wildfire season?

Parts of Alberta may experience a brown Christmas this year.

But the lack of snow isn't just impacting holiday traditions, it's causing concern for fire officials and farmers.

"Whenever we see dry, windy and warm conditions, we can see wildfires," Josee St-Onge of Alberta Wildfire told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

Wildfire season officially ended on Oct. 31, but St-Onge says crews have dealt with 30 wildfires across the province since then.

"Usually winter weather helps us extinguish those fires but we're not seeing that right now so that is also unusual."

It's a continuation of a trend from fall and winter 2022, where mild and dry conditions set the scene for a record-breaking wildfire season in 2023.

St-Onge says it's still too early to tell if next year will be a repeat of this wildfire season.

"There's still time for it to turn around, so it's too soon to say exactly how the next wildfire season will be."

The dry conditions have caused Parkland County to issue a fireworks ban for New Years Eve.

"Parkland County is currently under a fire restriction, and all major burn, outdoor fire and fireworks permit applications are suspended until conditions improve," Chad Moore of Parkland County wrote in the announcement.

"Due to the continuing lack of snow cover and the long term forecast of warm, dry, and windy conditions with no significant precipitation, fire services expects the restriction to extend into January 2024."

Farmers are also waiting to see what the new year will bring.

"If we continue to get no snow and then no rain in the early part of the season, it can present challenges for producers in terms of yield potential," said Jeremy Boychyn of Alberta Grains.

"It is a small piece of a larger puzzle of how much moisture is already in the soil and then how much rainfall occurs during the season."

Boychyn says different amounts of precipitation are needed for different areas of the province.

"Generally we're looking for four, five, six, plus inches would be good conditions in several parts of the province."