The National Weather Service in Kansas City issued a critical fire danger warning Wednesday for areas south and east of Kansas City. While St. Joseph was not in the designated warning area, there have been numerous brush fires in the past couple of days.
The weather is perfect for fire conditions — low humidity, wind gusts and warm temperatures. National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Kurtz said the trifecta of fire weather is strong winds over 20 mph, humidity below 20% and dry and dormant vegetation.
Fire seasons occur right before and after winter.
“It's kind of this transition period where we're going into fall, we're kind of becoming dormant, we're getting more leaves falling,” Kurtz said. “We got farmers who are baling hay, we're not getting a lot of rain during this time of year, and our grasses are becoming more dormant.
“On the other end, during the springtime, you're coming out of winter, so a lot of our vegetation is dead or it's leftover from the previous year. Then we get a dry spell before spring, if we get one, it seems like a week or two we get these dry, kind of dead vegetation and that's susceptible to burning.”
With the lack of moisture and high winds, the St. Joseph emergency manager Bill Lamar asks residents to be aware and careful of potential fire risks.
“With it not being burning season, you can still have folks that are maybe flicking out a cigarette inadvertently, or if you park the car on some dry grass, pull over have a picnic and want to be out, that muffler can really heat up the grass and the next thing you know you have a start of a brush fire,” Lamar said.
Although temperatures will drop Thursday with a cold front moving in overnight, the fire danger is still high, as dry weather and wind gusts are expected through Saturday.
“It can be in the 50s, but if you've got a strong southwest wind at 35 miles an hour, gusting over 40 miles per hour, and you're talking about really dry grasses, one spark could easily set an area of grass on fire pretty quickly and that wind is going to help spread that fire in whatever direction the wind is blowing,” Kurtz said.
Be careful and aware of any potential fire risks, and if you accidentally start or see a fire, call 911 immediately.
October 15, 2020 at 07:00AM
https://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/public_safety/dry-and-windy-conditions-perfect-for-potential-fires/article_991f9688-0e69-11eb-856f-cb6e98fda101.html
Dry and windy conditions perfect for potential fires - News-Press Now
https://news.google.com/search?q=dry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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