The National Weather Service’s active Red Flag Warning count climbed to 45 Monday, up from 36 the day before, as critical fire weather conditions pushed deeper into the Northern Plains and Rockies even as the warning footprint narrowed slightly to 11 states from 12.
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming all carry active warnings Monday. Nevada, which joined Sunday’s list, does not appear among today’s affected states.
The sharpest growth is in South Dakota, where the NWS has posted warnings across a wide swath of zones including Fall River County, the Northern and Eastern Foot Hills, Custer County Plains, the Pine Ridge Area, Butte County, Perkins County, Ziebach County, Haakon County, the Badlands Area and Bennett County — a stretch running from the Black Hills into the Badlands. Wyoming’s Weston County Plains and the Sioux Ranger District of Custer National Forest are also under warning, extending the high-risk zone across the state line.
Colorado remains under pressure on two fronts. The NWS has warnings active across Grand, Larimer, Boulder, Jackson, Moffat, Routt and Rio Blanco counties, while the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has separately issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for wildfire smoke covering those same seven counties, including Craig, Meeker, Rangely, Steamboat Springs, Walden, Granby, Hot Sulphur Springs, Kremmling, Fort Collins and Boulder. That advisory marks an escalation beyond fire-behavior risk into direct public health guidance for smoke exposure.
Utah’s warnings persist across the San Rafael Swell, the Ashley National Forest, the Tavaputs Plateau, Grand Staircase and the western Uintah Basin. In Oregon, the NWS Medford office has warnings covering fire weather zones that include Medford, Grants Pass, Ashland, Cave Junction and Eagle Point, with northwest winds of 10 to 15 mph and gusts up to 25 mph forecast for the afternoon, shifting to east-northeast overnight — a wind switch the agency warns could allow fires to spread rapidly in any direction.
The National Weather Service says any fires that develop under these conditions are likely to spread rapidly, given the combination of low humidity, warm temperatures and gusty winds driving the warnings. Officials are urging residents across the affected states to follow local fire restrictions and avoid outdoor activity that could produce sparks. With warnings now anchored simultaneously in the Great Basin, the central Rockies and the Northern Plains, forecasters say the fire weather threat is likely to persist through the week as hot, dry conditions continue across the interior West.