The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather/Red Flag Warning for the second day in a row as the drought continues to worsen with very low humidity and gusty winds.
The Fire Weather/Red Flag Warning is in effect until 7 pm CDT Friday evening for the entire state. The Fire Weather/Red Flag Warning for portions of Southern Mississippi continues through Sunday evening. A Fire Weather Watch also continues through Sunday across much of the state.
Trees, brush and grassy areas are extremely dry as a result of no significant rainfall over the last 20 to 30 plus days in many locations across the state.
The month of September tied a record for the driest ever in the capital city of Jackson.
These very dry conditions combined with a very dry air mass with very low humidity values in the 15-25 percent range and gusty winds will create a ripe situation for explosive fire growth or for the rapid spread of wildfires, a weather situation mostly experienced in the Western United States.
Over 100 brush fires/wildfires have already occurred across parts of the state over the past two weeks due to the very dry conditions that exist.
Outdoor burning of any kind is strongly discouraged and has been banned in many counties due to the high threat of fire spread. At least 34 counties are under fire bans including Adams, Attala, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clay, Copiah, DeSoto, Forrest, Grenada, Hinds, Holmes, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lee, Lowndes, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Neshoba, Panola, Pontotoc, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Tate, Tallahatchie, Union, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Winston and Yalobusha.
The overall dry weather pattern unfortunately is not expected to break anytime soon with dry conditions forecast to continue through much of next week, which will continue to worsen the drought across the state. The dry conditions on the other hand will be great news for the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson, which begins next week. The State Fair was virtually rained out last year.
National Weather Service Statement:
DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI TODAY.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES THIS AFTERNOON WILL RANGE FROM 15 TO 25 PERCENT...WITH THE LOWEST VALUES ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA REGION. ADDITIONALLY, NORTHERLY WINDS OF 15 TO 20 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS ARE EXPECTED TODAY.
THE COMBINATION OF THE LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND BREEZY WINDS WILL RESULT IN THE
POTENTIAL FOR EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH TODAY, ESPECIALLY DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS.
SIMILAR LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES AND BREEZY CONDITIONS COULD RESULT IN DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ACROSS THE REGION INTO THIS WEEKEND, ESPECIALLY DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS.
THEREFORE, THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH COULD BE EXTENDED AND ADDITIONAL FIRE WEATHER/RED FLAG WARNINGS COULD BECOME REQUIRED.
THE FIRE DANGER ACROSS THE REGION HAS BEEN ENHANCED BY THE LACK OF RAINFALL DURING THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS. DUE TO THE VERY DRY GROUND CONDITIONS ALREADY IN PLACE.
AREA FIRE AGENCIES ACROSS MISSISSIPPI HAVE INDICATED AN INCREASE IN FIRE DANGER AND FIRE ACTIVITY AND THEY DISCOURAGE OUTDOOR BURNING. PORTIONS OF MISSISSIPPI HAVE LOCAL BURN BANS IN EFFECT AND ADDITIONAL BANS ARE EXPECTED IN THE COMING
WEEKS.
Source: NWS
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Fire Weather Warning includes 82 out of 82 Mississippi counties:
Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lafayette, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Walthall, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, Winston, Yalobusha, Yazoo
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