Experts say the Southwestern U.S. is drier than it's been in some 1,200 years, which is one of, but not the only, drivers of the large infernos burning in New Mexico.

With the worst of the thick wildfire smoke having blown out of town, residents of a small northern New Mexico city tried to recapture a sense of normalcy amid predictions of extreme fire conditions.

Firefighting crews were battling to keep the fire in northern New Mexico, the largest fire burning in the U.S., from making another run across the state's drought-parched landscape.