Conversely, the South experiences short and low-snow winters and long, dry and hot summers. During such drought periods, the fire danger increases sharply and the number of wildfires occurring on wooded land is extremely high. An overall trend of increasing aridity of the climate of Kazakhstan has been observed for about half a century. Consequently, a destabilisation of forests and woodlands and an increase of wildfire danger have been observed. The large size of the territory of Kazakhstan has produced a great diversity in natural landscapes.
Fires occurring in the coniferous forests spread uphill and develop as crown fires.
The forests in the typical forest steppe are frequently ignited by steppe fires. The fire regimes of timber islands, embedded in the steppe, depend on the fire conditions in the steppe. Saksaoul stands are usually not affected by wildfires if understory vegetation and the herb-shrub layer are intensively grazed and browsed by livestock. If understory fuels are present, these forests can be damaged severely by wildfires. Tougai, the flood-plains forest of Central Asia, represent a separate class of woodlands and a microclimatic zone with its own particular fire regimes.