Much of southern and central Iowa is under a Red Flag Warning this afternoon and evening as there’s a critical risk of fire danger.
National Weather Service meteorologist Kristy Carter says there’s a hazardous combination of conditions in the forecast today, starting with winds gusting up to 35 miles an hour.
“Combine those with the dry conditions, we’ll get some minimum relative humidity values of like 20 to 25%, and high temperatures certainly above normal in the low to mid 70s,” Carter says. “That could certainly lead to fires spreading rapidly, if they were to start.”
Open burning is strongly discouraged, so are campfires, and the use of any equipment that might start a fire. A few tulip leaves are starting to poke up here and there, along with sprigs of grass, but most vegetation is exceptionally dry after the long winter.
“The Red Flag Warning is going to cover areas that had little-to-no remaining snow cover, because those fuels are the ones that have been able to dry out pretty fast over the weekend,” Carter says. “Certainly, the best things that folks can do is not start any burning, because those fires could become unmanageable.”
The state fire marshal’s office says only five counties are under burn bans: Clinton, Decatur, Mills, Montgomery and Page.
Parts of southwest Iowa may see high temperatures this afternoon reach the 80-degree mark, and she says that’s much warmer than normal for this stage in March.
“The normal high in Des Moines is officially 46 for today,” Carter says. “The record is 75 so we certainly could be making a run at some high temperature records here today.”
The forecast calls for high temps on Tuesday to be around 20 degrees cooler, with a gradual warming trend potentially back into the upper 70s by Friday.