We have a dangerous mix of dry weather, gusty winds and low humidity have the government forecasters warning of explosive fire growth potential.
A dangerous combination of no rain, low humidity and winds today and tomorrow. We have a warning from the National Weather Service about explosive fire growth potential.
Accuweather Meteorologist Heather Zehr says we need to be prepared to hear about new wildfires if things don't change soon.
"You combine dry weather, you combine wind and an extended period of dry weather too, and then you really have a problem".
Our next chance of rain comes Monday but it's not much of a chance.
Here is the official warning from the National Weather Service:
...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM EDT THIS
EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS...LOW HUMIDITY...HIGH DISPERSION AND HIGH
ERC VALUES FOR MUCH OF NORTHEAST FLORIDA...
...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
FRIDAY EVENING FOR LOW RH AND HIGH DISPERSION FOR MUCH OF
NORTHEAST FLORIDA...
AFFECTED AREA...IN FLORIDA...FIRE WEATHER ZONES 020...021...
022...023...024...025...030...031...032...033...035...036...
037...038 AND 040.
WIND...SOUTHWEST WINDS NEAR 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 20 MPH THIS
AFTERNOON.
HUMIDITY...MINIMUM VALUES NEAR 30 PERCENT. RELATIVE HUMIDITY
VALUES ARE EXPECTED TO BE BELOW 35 PERCENT FOR 3 TO 5 HOURS THIS
AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
DISPERSION...VALUES ABOVE 75 ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND
FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
ERC...VALUES AROUND 35 THIS AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
IMPACTS...ANY FIRES THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY SPREAD RAPIDLY.
OUTDOOR BURNING IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.
