Weather! Warm, dry week ahead

There are more warm temperatures on the way this week, and I’ve got some important information regarding any outdoor burning plans you might have today.

February 14, 2011; 2:58 AM • by Weather Dan

UPDATE 9:15am: As expected, the National Weather Service has upgraded the fire weather watch to a red flag warning for today.

…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 PM EST THIS EVENING…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 PM EST THIS EVENING. THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* TIMING: FROM NOON THROUGH 7 PM EST THIS EVENING.

* WIND: SOUTHWEST 10 TO 15 MPH EARLY…BECOMING WEST AND INCREASING TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 40 MPH IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON.

* HUMIDITY: MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITIES OF 20 TO 25 PERCENT DURING THE AFTERNOON…WITH SEVERAL HOURS BELOW 30 PERCENT.

* TEMPERATURES: MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES IN THE MID TO UPPER 60S.

* IMPACTS: ANYONE PLANNING TO CONDUCT BURNING TODAY ARE ENCOURAGED TO DELAY UNTIL TUESDAY IF POSSIBLE. IF BURNING HAS TO BE CONDUCTED TODAY…USE EXTREME CAUTION AND HAVE THE NECESSARY TOOLS AVAILABLE TO QUICKLY CONTROL THE FIRE. ANY FIRES COULD SPREAD RAPIDLY AND BEGIN TO BURN OUT OF CONTROL UNDER THE EXPECTED WEATHER CONDITIONS.

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.

END UPDATE

Warm, dry, and windy conditions have led the National Weather Service to place most of the region under a Fire Weather Watch, effective from 9am until 9pm Monday. This means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur, and that any fire could spread rapidly and quickly burn out of control. If you had planned on burning anything today, please put it off until at least tomorrow. Our recent spate of warm weather, and a dry January and February, have created dry soil conditions that can easily ignite. When coupled with strong winds, this creates a situation where a fire could easily burn out of control and spread over a large area quite quickly.

Monday‘s high temperature is going to SOAR into the mid 60s, with gusty winds resulting from a clipper system moving across the Great Lakes region. Winds tomorrow will range from 15-30 miles per hour sustained, with some locally higher gusts. Lows will fall into the mid 30s overnight. It’s entirely possible that the fire weather watch currently in effect will be upgraded to a red flag warning, which would indicate the potential for “explosive fire growth.” Either way, any and all outdoor burning is highly discouraged on Monday.

A cold front associated with that low moving across the Great Lakes will pass through the area Monday, cooling things off for Tuesday. Temperatures will be somewhat depressed compared to what you’ve been used to this weekend and Monday, with highs only reaching the low 50s. Despite this, we’ll still see quite the nice day, cooling off to the upper 20s to near 30 overnight.

Temperatures start to rebound on Wednesday, climbing back to near 60 with some breezy winds during the afternoon hours and overnight lows only falling into the low 40s.

Temperatures for the remainder of the week look to climb even higher; highs could reach the 70 degree mark later in the week. It’s quite unseasonable to see warm weather this early in the year, so make sure you get out and enjoy it while you have the chance!

February 14, 2011 2:58 AM 0