Outdoor burns are banned for Lyon and most surrounding counties due to weather conditions Thursday.
Lyon, Morris and Wabaunsee counties are in an official red flag warning from 11 am to 8 pm. Chase and Greenwood counties are in a separate red flag warning from 1-9 pm.
Conditions are ripe for rapid fire development, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Kris Craven.
Fire danger will also be elevated through the upcoming weekend after a good chance of showers and storms Thursday evening and late Thursday night, including a marginal risk for severe hail along and east of a line from Eskridge to Emporia to Teterville to Yates Center.
Temperatures will be sharply cooler — low 60s — for Friday and Saturday, bur northerly gusts will be from 25-35 mph those days and in the same range Sunday as highs climb to the low 80s.
Following a semi fire that triggered a 700-acre grass fire near the Kansas Turnpike in southern Chase County early Wednesday, activity was limited. Greenwood County Emergency Dispatch reports an out-of-control burn that started near Kansas Highway 99 and 50th Street shortly before 1:45 pm.
KVOE and KVOE.com will have updates.
