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Parts of Texas at "extremely critical" fire risk

2022-03-17T16:50:03.213Z


Texas drought conditions coupled with wind gusts of up to 45 miles per hour critically elevate fire risk.


UN alerts on increase in forest fires 0:49

(CNN) --

Parts of Texas are under an extreme fire threat Thursday, according to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).


The threat comes from winds of 40-60 km/h and gusts of 72 km/h combined with very dry conditions.

The strongest winds are likely to coincide with afternoon highs.

"A highly volatile fire environment is expected to develop within Edwards Plateau today," the SPC warned Thursday morning.

The SPC issued an "extremely critical" fire risk warning (level 3 of 3) for the Edwards Plateau and Permian Basin in Texas, including San Angelo.

This map shows the level of fire risk for this Thursday.

The color fuchsia represents an extreme fire hazard.

Areas in red have a critical fire risk and areas in orange have a high risk.

  • Fires in northwest Florida continue, while thousands of hectares burn near Panama City

"Reports of extreme fire behavior over the past two days, occurring with less significant weather, suggest an upgrade to the extremely critical level is warranted," the SPC said.

Extreme fire weather today with the possibility of dangerous wildfires.

Most fires caused by people doing preventable stuff, careless or frankly stupid.

This is NOT THE DAY to be welding outside, parking in tall grass, etc.

Let's keep fire crews & our neighbors safe!

#sjtwx #txwx pic.twitter.com/1U0Jcvyq9H

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— NWS San Angelo (@NWSSanAngelo) March 17, 2022

The National Weather Service in San Angelo (NWS San Angelo) noted "continuing dryness" in many places and that "most areas have not seen significant rainfall for much of the winter. This has prevented the normal greening of March and many areas have been left with a large, dry fuel load.

This means that the plants have no moisture and are more likely to catch fire.

"We've all seen the videos of how quickly Christmas trees can catch fire toward the end of the holiday season," says CNN meteorologist Judson Jones.

"This is a similar situation. All the vegetation is dry and it will only take a spark to ignite."

Drought conditions across Texas have worsened in recent months, with more than 90% of the state now in drought, according to the US Drought Monitor update released Thursday morning.

More than 40% of the state is in the two worst drought categories: extreme and exceptional, and they were reached in just three months.

Only the last week they increased by 5%.

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The NWS San Angelo advisory notes that dry fuels and gusty winds make very high to extreme fire conditions possible for Thursday, adding that any fire that does start can spread out of control.

A large "critical risk" zone (level 2 of 3) surrounds the highest threat zone and stretches from central Texas to the Texas-Mexico border in far west Texas.

Residents of these areas should also be on high alert.

Dry conditions and winds of 32 km/h and gusts of 60 km/h are forecast in this area for this Thursday.

As the weather system that brings dry and windy conditions to the Southwest and Texas moves east with severe storms, fire concerns will ease somewhat.

Another system is expected to increase fire risk again later this weekend.

This is something residents may have to get used to as drought conditions are expected to continue.

The number of wildfires in the United States this year is well above the average of the past 10 years, according to the latest report from the National Interagency Fire Center released Friday.

Since January 1, 11,663 forest fires have burned 1,163 square kilometers.

The 10-year average is 5,819 forest fires.

Fires in the United StatesTexas

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-03-17

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