Wind won’t be as brutal as it was Friday, but all other fire weather conditions signal critical danger across the KVOE listening area Monday and again possibly Tuesday.
Along with high temperatures approaching 80 degrees Monday, grasses remain dry — and so does the atmosphere. Relative humidity levels will be at or below 25 percent.
Red flag warnings go from 12-8 pm Monday for Lyon, Coffey, Morris, Osage and Wabaunsee counties, while the warning is from 11 am to 9 pm for Chase and Greenwood counties. Automatic burn bans are now in place areawide while the warnings are active. Also, a fire weather watch covers Lyon and all surrounding counties from 11 am to 10 pm Tuesday. Separately, Chase County has issued its own burn ban until Wednesday at the earliest. Osage and Wabaunsee counties were already in their own burn bans for Monday when the red flag warning was announced Sunday.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Gargan says this is not the time to be careless with anything that can spark fires.
With the fire danger in place to start the week, the Kansas Forest Service has coordinated with the Great Plains Interstate Fire Compact to bring in firefighters from Wyoming and Utah. Their locations have not been announced, but the Forest Service says it has overhead resources from Wyoming State Forestry and engines from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Land Task Force “strategically positioned across Kansas.”
3:45 pm Sunday: Red Flag Warnings in place areawide Monday
Red Flag Warnings are back in place areawide with extreme fire danger back in the forecast Monday.
Red Flag Warnings cover Lyon, Coffey, Morris, Osage and Wabaunsee counties from noon to 8 pm Monday and Chase and Greenwood counties from 11 am to 9 pm Monday. Red Flag Warnings mean automatic burn bans for all affected counties.
The issuance of the Red Flag Warning’s for Monday follow Friday’s widespread and, in some cases, destructive fire conditions which stretched local resources extremely thin. Monday’s forecast is calling for steady southwest winds between 15 to 25 mph throughout the day, low relative humidity levels and temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s.
Combined with already dry conditions and grasses, any fires that develop could become out of control and spread rapidly. Local landowners are encouraged to check on previous burns to ensure they are completely out to help reduce the chance of any rekindles.
If a fire does develop, call your local fire department immediately and do not try to put it out alone. Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for weather updates as needed throughout the day.
