August is a month we've come to associate with out-of-control wildfires and air quality warnings. This summer may be shaping up to be different. So far, fires in the Pacific Northwest are fewer and smaller.

We had a cooler and wetter July than normal.

British Columbia was even wetter. Last year, B.C. had hundreds of wildfires, many of them raging and out-of-control, and these fires were responsible for a lot of the particulate that gave Seattle the worst air in the world.

Right now there are only 24 fires, mostly small, and only two of note.

Our wildfire fortunes could change, however, because May was unusually warm and dry with days that reached the 90s.

That may come back to haunt us, says Erik Saganic of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. "When you think about drying fuels over a longer time period, that all plays in," he said.