With
Hurricane Ian soon to make landfall in Florida, the state of Alabama will be
situated on the dry side of the storm. On Wednesday, Alabama will be seeing
lower than normal relative humidity and stronger winds across the state, meaning
conditions are favorable for wildfires to start easily, spread rapidly, and be difficult
to control. Because Alabama is already experiencing dry conditions heading into
the event, this critical weather behavior will elevate fire danger for the
state.
The
Alabama
Forestry Commission is urging
caution on any outdoor burning. If you must burn, or have burned in the last
few days, please check your fires to make sure they are properly extinguished.
Smoking piles immediately adjacent to flammable vegetation have the chance to
rekindle and spread under these conditions.
Weather
predictions for Alabama on Wednesday include relative humidity under 25 percent
and sustained winds close to 15 mph with stronger gusts in areas. Red Flag
Warnings have already been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) for
Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Choctaw, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Escambia, Mobile,
Monroe, Washington, and Wilcox counties. A Fire Weather Watch is also being
issued by the NWS for Wednesday, September 28, for the following counties: Autauga,
Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne,
Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Lee, Lowndes,
Macon, Marengo, Marion, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Shelby,
St. Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, and Walker. Please pay attention
to local weather outlets as fire weather conditions may change through the
weekend.