A wildfire in progress north of Riverdale on Saturday, March 22, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
HASTINGS — There will be a chance for near critical to critical fire weather conditions Sunday, May 10 through next Thursday.
According to the National Weather Service – Hastings, despite the increasingly green fuels, much of Nebraska remains well below normal on precipitation this year so far. Drought conditions continue to persist across the local area.
There are still enough dormant or dead grass that can easily carry a fire, given favorable weather conditions.
“Therefore, given favorable dry fuels, we plan to continue to issue Fire Weather Watches and Red Flag Warnings for our Nebraska counties as long as conditions warrant,” per NWS Hastings.
The wind will remain light on Saturday, but begins to increase out of the south on Sunday at 20-25 mph with gusts up to 30-35 mph. The increasing wind, warmer temperatures and low relative humidity values will likely result in the need for fire weather watches or a Red Flag Warning.
Humidity values will continue to lower each afternoon, and this will lead to the possibility of multiple days of fire weather throughout next week.
The wind will be southerly most days but will eventually become more southwesterly or westerly by Wednesday and Thursday.
