Outdoor burning was being heavily discouraged for the coming days, but now it is outright disallowed for some area residents.
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning affecting Chase and Greenwood counties from 10 am to 6 pm Thursday, meaning automatic burn bans are in place. A burn ban has also been issued for Coffey County until further notice.
These are just the latest weather-related advisories issued due to a combination of blustery conditions, wind speeds between 20-30 mph with gusts possibly as high as 50 at times, dry conditions, and low relative humidity levels that have set up extreme fire danger for Thursday. Additional advisories include high wind warnings for Lyon, Chase, Morris and Wabaunsee counties from 2 am to 6 pm Thursday and wind advisories for Coffey and Osage counties through the same time frame.
A fire weather watch remains in effect Thursday morning through the afternoon for Lyon, Morris and Wabaunsee counties.
10:31 am Wednesday: Lyon, most surrounding counties in fire weather watch Thursday; Chase, Coffey counties announce burn bans
Given the combination in weather factors, Emporia Fire is urging landowners not to burn anything outdoors Thursday. And Battalion Chief Eron Steinlage is urging anybody who had a fire earlier this week to make sure it’s out.
Winds for much of Wednesday will be as high as 20 mph, but gusts increase to 30 mph overnight and possibly 40-50 mph for most of Thursday. Winds could be between 20-35 mph steadily through the day. Already, fire weather watches and wind advisories are up for area counties Thursday.
Steinlage also urges residents to take extra care around anything that could cause sparks.
Chase County has already enacted a countywide burn ban in effect Wednesday through Friday morning. Coffey County is now in a burn ban until further notice. Other area counties have not yet followed suit.
KVOE and KVOE.com will have updates.
5 am Wednesday:
Increasingly breezy conditions by Wednesday night will lead to windy conditions and extreme fire danger Thursday.
Winds for much of Wednesday will be as high as 20 mph, but gusts increase to 30 mph overnight and possibly 40-50 mph for most of Thursday. Winds could be between 20-35 mph steadily through the day.
Besides wind advisories for all area counties essentially between 8 am and 6 pm, Lyon and most surrounding counties are also in fire weather watches. These signal an overall combination of high wind, dry grasses and low relative humidity, and they often serve as first steps towards red flag warnings — which mean automatic burn bans for affected counties.
Chase County has already enacted a countywide burn ban in effect Wednesday through Friday morning. Other area counties have not yet followed suit.
Conditions have been dry since the KVOE studios got 0.60 inches of rain Nov. 30. The US Drought Monitor, which updates every Thursday, has extreme north and southeast parts of Lyon County as abnormally dry, along with most or all of Coffey, Greenwood, Osage and Wabaunsee counties. The eastern half of Morris County is also abnormally dry. Meanwhile, the Kansas Water Office has Lyon and all surrounding counties except Chase in a drought watch.
2:40 pm Tuesday: Chase and Greenwood counties placed into fire weather watch for Thursday
Two area counties have been placed into a fire weather watch for later this week.
The National Weather Service announced Tuesday that it has placed Chase and Greenwood counties in the watch, which goes from Thursday morning until Thursday afternoon. The cause of the watch is the possibility of extreme fire danger in the area caused by forecasted wind speeds of 25 to 30 mph with gusts possibly as high as 50 mph throughout the day.
Coupling the winds with extremely dry conditions and relative humidity between 20 to 30 percent, NWS says that conditions will be ripe for any fires that may develop to spread rapidly. Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for more updates as they become available.
