25 Mar Region gets red flag warning for fire danger
For the second time in just a few weeks, a red flag warning was issued because of enhanced fire dangers tied to dry vegetation and high winds.
The latest warning came Saturday (March 6) when a red flag warning was issued for western North Dakota because of winds predicted to gust up to about 40 miles per hour in areas.
The warning was issued from 11 a.m. (MT) until 6 p.m. Saturday because of high winds and low relative humidity and covered Bowman, Adams, Billings, Golden Valley, Slope and Stark counties, among others.
The National Weather Service office in Bismarck had also issued a fire weather watch because of the conditions and the relative humidity dropping below 17 percent.
“Any fires that ignite could spread rapidly and become difficult to control or suppress,” the NWS office explained in the notification.
The region also had been notified of a high fire danger Thursday because of weather conditions, with some counties already announcing burn bans.
The state had issued a red flag warning Feb. 25 because of high winds, low humidity and the danger of fire.
A large fire has already hit the region this year under similar windy conditions when nearly 20,000 acres were burned in a short time near the South Dakota border town of Lemmon.