The National Weather Service has issued 42 active Red Flag Warnings spanning 15 states as of Thursday, up from 37 alerts covering 11 states Wednesday, with the fire weather threat extending into new territory across the southern Plains, Gulf Coast fringe, and Great Basin.
Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Nevada, and Wisconsin have all entered the warning footprint for the first time in the current outbreak, signaling that dangerous fire conditions are no longer confined to the High Plains and Rockies.
Conditions in several zones are extreme. In Colorado’s high-country corridor, the National Weather Service is reporting sustained westerly winds of 25 to 50 mph with gusts reaching 65 mph and relative humidity dropping as low as 20 percent — conditions the agency says will allow any fires that develop to spread rapidly. Forecasters have covered a broad elevation range in the state, including the Upper Arkansas River Valley, Lake and Chaffee counties, Fremont County, and the Southern Front Range encompassing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Wet Mountains, and La Veta Pass.
In separate warning zones, humidity readings as low as 11 percent have been recorded alongside gusts up to 40 mph. The National Weather Service warns that fires in those areas will catch and spread rapidly and erratically.
South Dakota remains one of the most extensively warned states in the current event. Warnings cover Fall River County, the Northern and Eastern Foothills, Custer County Plains, the Pine Ridge area, Butte County, the Badlands, Ziebach County, Haakon County, Bennett County, and the West Central Plains — with alerts running through 9 p.m. MDT Thursday.
Montana’s warning zones extend across the Fort Peck Reservation and Daniels, Roosevelt, and Sheridan counties, as well as Dawson, McCone, Prairie, Richland, and Wibaux counties, and the Lower Missouri River Breaks including the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Nevada’s newly issued warnings cover Lincoln and Lyon counties. Wisconsin’s footprint includes Brookings, Miner, Lake, Moody, Beadle, Jerauld, and Sanborn counties. Minnesota’s coverage spans Murray, Pipestone, and Kingsbury counties.
The National Weather Service advises that outdoor burning is not recommended across all warned zones and emphasizes that a Red Flag Warning indicates critical fire weather — strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures acting together — is either occurring now or imminent.
Residents across Oklahoma weather and throughout the central and southern Plains should monitor updated NWS forecasts as warning boundaries continue to shift. The agency has not indicated when conditions are expected to substantially improve across the broader region.