AMARILLO, TEXAS -- A red flag warning is now in affect for our area because the fire danger is expected to be very high Sunday. Pronews 7 takes a closer look at why conditions will be just right and what you need to know to prevent sparking a fire.
Infamous Panhandle winds and dry conditions mixed together has meteorologists and fire stations across the area on alert for critical conditions.
"Typically we need low relatively humidity, so temperatures will be warm with low dew points. You also need strong winds which we're expecting winds 30 mph with higher gust and you need dry conditions. We haven't had a lot of rain fall here lately so the ground is very dry," said Krissy Scotten, National Weather Service.
Even with the snow we received a few weeks ago, it didn't do much as far as moisturizing the ground. Scotten says get ready, it could be some time before we see any moisture in the forecast.
"We haven't seen any moisture. Since we haven't seen any rain any snow, and these winds can really dry out the ground pretty quickly. Our temperatures have been well above normal lately so it doesn't take long for things to dry out," said Scotten.
Already this week, we have seen what those dry conditions and high wind gust can do. A grass fire in Moore County burned 35,000 acres Thursday. On Wednesday, a grass fire in Lipscomb County burned an estimated 7500 to 10,000 acres. 15 counties in the Panhandle do have burn bans in effect, including Potter and Randall.
"One of the main things is just be smart. Don't have grills left unattended, don't burn any trash, don't throw out cigarette butts, you know, just be smart about the fires," said Scott.
Be sure to keep refreshing our home page for updates and check out our weather section.
