SPC Day 1 Fire Weather Outlook
Day 1 Fire Weather Outlook
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
1058 AM CST Tue Mar 04 2025
Valid 041700Z - 051200Z
...EXTREMELY CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER AREA FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEASTERN
NEW MEXICO...THE UPPER TRANS-PECOS...THE BIG BEND...AND THE RIO
GRANDE PLAIN...
...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER AREA FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEASTERN NEW
MEXICO...WEST TEXAS...A PORTION OF THE HILL COUNTRY...AND SOUTH
TEXAS...
...Update...
The latest trends in observations show a cold front advancing
southward into the Permian Basin of TX and southeastern NM. Just
ahead of it, windy westerly downslope sustained winds near 30-40 kt
with gusts as high as 50-55 kt are occurring. Relative humidity will
continue to fall fairly quickly ahead of the front, but cooler
temperatures behind it should limit the duration of critical RH
later this afternoon. Considering the widespread rainfall that
occurred last night/early this morning, and higher RH anticipated
for a portion of the region behind the front, the Extreme area has
been trimmed from most of the Hill Country. The extreme fire spread
conditions will likely be more confined to the Rio Grande River
Valley, a portion of southeastern NM, and the western Permian
Basin/Upper Trans-Pecos. The elevated area was also trimmed for the
same reason.
The Elevated area of the Central Appalachians has not been modified,
as the forecast remains valid there. Please see the forecast
discussion below for additional details.
..Barnes.. 03/04/2025
.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 0132 AM CST Tue Mar 04 2025/
...Synopsis...
A mid-level trough will traverse the Mississippi Valley as a surface
low tracks toward the Great Lakes while deepening today. The net
result will be intense isallobaric flow, transporting a dry
low-level airmass across portions of the southern High Plains into
southern Texas. The combination of very strong winds/low RH
overspreading critically dry fuels across western into southern
Texas will promote extreme wildfire-spread potential. Meanwhile, a
plume of low-level dry air will advect northward across portions of
the central Appalachians as the surface low approaches. The
accompanying dry and breezy conditions atop dry duels over the
central Appalachians will promote some potential for wildfire spread
in this region as well.
...Southern High Plains into southern Texas...
Though the surface low will drift away from the southern Plains
through the period, the gradual intensification of the low will slow
the weakening of the surface wind field. Furthermore, daytime
boundary-layer mixing will encourage some downward momentum of
stronger flow aloft. As such, portions of western into southern
Texas will see multiple hours of sustained west-northwesterly
surface winds well over 30 mph coincide with very low RH (i.e. 10-15
percent over several locales). Such conditions, particularly over
the Edwards Plateau into the Central Texas Hill Country and South
Texas Brush Country, are anomalously favorable for very rapid
wildfire spread/extreme fire behavior. Given the very dangerous
wildfire-spread conditions, Extremely Critical highlights have been
maintained for this region. Furthermore, Extremely Critical
highlights have been introduced to portions of southeast New Mexico
into the Trans Pecos and Permian Basin regions in southwestern TX.
An 850 mb speed maxima pivoting around the backside of the mid-level
trough will overspread the mixed boundary layer, with downward
momentum transport fostering 30 mph sustained northwesterly surface
winds amid 15 percent RH.
A complicating factor to this outlook is the development and
progression of ongoing strong thunderstorms across portions of
western into northern Texas. Additional storms may produce an
abundance of rainfall in some locations, dampening fuels
sufficiently to reduce wildfire-spread potential to some degree. As
such, considerable modifications to the ongoing fire weather
highlights may be needed for the Day 1 Outlook Update.
...Central Appalachians...
By afternoon peak heating, Rh will drop to around 30-35 percent in
spots as sustained southerly winds increase to around 15 mph. During
the mid-afternoon time frame, some moistening of the surface airmass
will occur as surface wind speeds increase, so the window of
opportunity for favorable wildfire-spread conditions is not expected
to be particularly long-lived. Nonetheless, these aforementioned
conditions should overspread fuels that are quite dry, warranting
the continuance of Elevated highlights.
...Please see www.spc.noaa.gov/fire for graphic product...
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