National Fire News

Very dry air will continue in the southern Appalachians and Piedmont today with minimum relative humidity of 10-25%, but winds will be lighter than yesterday. A cold front will move from the Mississippi River to the East Coast this weekend, with mixed precipitation for the Great Lakes and Northeast. However, the front will be mostly dry near and south of the Ohio River, with only scattered light precipitation for the Ohio River and west slopes of the Appalachians. Breezy and very dry northwest winds will develop from Sunday into Monday on the east slopes of the central and southern Appalachians to the Piedmont creating elevated to critical conditions. Conditions will moderate mid-next week due to increasing relative humidity and lighter winds, and scattered showers are possible, as well. To the south, dry conditions are expected to persist through the next week in the Southeast, but winds are forecast to be light to moderate. In the Plains, breezy and dry west winds today will bring elevated conditions to the central and southern High Plains. The breezy winds will be more localized tomorrow, before they become more southerly Sunday. Another period of breezy west winds will develop Monday on the southern and central High Plains creating elevated to locally critical conditions. Precipitation is likely to be scattered and light on the northern Plains Monday. Another system is expected mid to late next week, which is likely to bring a better chance of precipitation to the central and southern Plains, but whether any precipitation falls on the High Plains is uncertain, and another period of elevated conditions is possible. Precipitation will fall farther east across much of the Mississippi Valley mid-next week. In the West, a deep upper-level low and associated atmospheric river will bring widespread moderate to heavy rainfall to southern California, the southern Great Basin, and Arizona through the weekend. Scattered, light precipitation will fall to the north across the West. Early next week, another system will move into the West Coast, with the heaviest precipitation again focused on southern California and the Southwest. Snow levels will gradually decline throughout the period, falling as low as 3,000 feet near the Canadian border and 6,000 feet in the Southwest. Cold and dry conditions are expected across Alaska through the weekend before a strong storm affects western Alaska early to mid-next week, with lighter precipitation spreading east. Breezy trade winds and windward showers will continue across Hawai’i through the weekend, with a cold front approaching early next week bringing an increased chance of showers to all areas.