Fire Weather Forecasting Arrives

Fire Weather Forecasting Arrives in KS

Starting 10/3/2006, all NWS Forecasts offices in or serving Kansas will start producing full fire weather forecasts early each morning. You can find these two ways. http://fire.boi.noaa.gov/ is the national fire weather page, and you can click on the link for your NWS forecast office. You can also go directly to the page by typing in http://www.crh.noaa.gov/top/?n=fire for Topeka, and changing the “top” to “ict” for Wichita, gld for Goodland, gid for Hastings/Grand Island, ddc for Dodge City, or eax for Pleasant Hill/KC. On the left of these pages there is a link to Fire Weather. Each has a little different format, but will include a daily planning forecast and breakdowns for counties. There will also be Red Flag Warnings issued when fuel conditions, wind, and humidity make a great potential for extreme/dangerous fire conditions, and Fire Weather Watches when it’s not yet a Red Flag, but getting there. Start watching these forecasts now, so when fire season comes you’ll be comfortable with them, and watch the KSFFA Firewire for an article with more detailed information. Hint: on the top of the fire weather planning forecast page you can “glossary on” and it will help define some terms that may not be familiar.