Monday, February 14, 2011

Red Flag Warnings in portions of the East Coast USA


Noting that all of New Jersey is under a wind advisory for this afternoon into the wee hours of Tuesday where there will be sustained winds at about 20 to 25 mph with gust to 45 or 50 mph, I got curious about what the fire danger might be south of me. That is, here in northern and central NJ we still have snow cover which I expect lessens the fire danger. However, this is not the case in southern NJ.

Southern NJ, while not under a red flag warning, the southern NJ counties of Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland and southeastern Burlington Counties will see enhanced fire danger this afternoon into this evening with fine fuel moisture at about 10 percent, gusty winds, and a the possibility of a decreasing relative humidity.

You will see from the map that areas to the south of NJ, including portions of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are under red flag warnings. I believe that the winter fire season in Florida and Georgia is under way. I'm not sure about the dates of the fire season in other regions in the south. But the spring fire season in NJ (and Pennsylvania) starts in early to mid March. As we move towards March I'll start to monitor fire conditions in NJ as I did last year. So, stay tuned.

Here is a wlildand fire hotlist thread on fire danger in No. Carolina. I will continue keep my eyes and ears out for fire activity that may result from today's red flag warnings.

The areas mapped in yellow in New Mexico are under fire weather watch.

If you want to check out fire weather for the U.S. National Weather Service was a fire weather page. The map on the top of this article is from the National Weather Service.

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