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Good evening, this is Jonathan with the National Weather Service in Norman with a weather briefing
regarding fire danger and high winds for today, March 11th, 2014.
Headlines After an active fire weather day Monday, ingredients
remain in place for another active and possibly more severe fire weather day today. South/southwest
winds will pick up after sunrise, especially across western Oklahoma and western north
Texas. Temperatures will climb into the 70s and 80s This afternoon ahead of an approaching
cold front, while minimum relative humidities will dive into the teens to lower 20 percent
range. As the cold front passes northwest to southeast across the region through the
late afternoon and early evening, winds will increase once again behind the front, with
gusts 40 to 55 mph through the evening, with winds remaining gusty overnight. Fire containment
is of greatest concern considering the increase in winds behind the front along with the drastic
wind shift. With those factors, fire containment will be nearly impossible after any fires
start, regardless of RH values. All outdoor burning and activities that could spark a
fire should be avoided at all costs.
The most excessive fire danger will exist across the drought stricken regions of western
Oklahoma and western north Texas, where winds will be the strongest, and RH values the lowest
through the afternoon. With that said, that isn’t an invitation for those across the
rest of Oklahoma and northern Texas to start fires, with such gusty winds through the afternoon
and overnight, any fires that start will burn excessively out of control. Throw in the wind
shift and increase overnight and fire containment will be nearly impossible.
Here are the expected minimum RH values for Today. The lowest RH values will occur through
the afternoon hours, with teens to near single digits possible across portions of far southwestern
Oklahoma and western north Texas.
This map shows the maximum wind gusts forecast for the region from today through Wednesday.
The highest winds will occur behind the cold front late in the evening. As mentioned before,
this will have an impact on any ongoing fires after sunset, primarily with containment operations.
Follow Up To close, I know I sound like I’m beating
a dead horse, but we cannot emphasize this enough. Tuesday is not the day to be burning
or conducting activities that may result in sparking a fire. Keep cigarette butts in your
car, refrain from using machinery that produces sparks or gets hot, especially over dry vegetation,
and what ever you do, refrain from burning. Do not put your property or your neighbors
property at risk, and more importantly, when fires burn out of control, you put the lives
of first responders, fire fighters, EMTs, Emergency Management, and police at risk.
weather.gov/norman As always, thank you for your watching, and
as always, you can get the latest information regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings
at our website, www.weather.gov/norman. Plus, don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow
us on twitter, and subscribe to our youtube channel. Thanks again, and have a wonderful
Tuesday.