The National Weather Service’s active red flag warning count fell sharply Sunday, dropping to 17 from 37 a day earlier, as critical fire weather conditions eased across parts of the West even as the underlying threat persisted in the hardest-hit zones.
The geographic footprint narrowed along with the count. South Dakota, included in Saturday’s tally, dropped off the list entirely. Seven states remain under some form of red flag warning: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
The Sierra Front and northeastern California remain among the most active zones. Fire weather zones covering Surprise Valley, eastern Lassen County — including the Biscar Fire — and the area around Carson City, Douglas, Storey, southern Washoe, western Lyon and far southern Lassen counties are seeing southwest winds of 15 to 25 mph with higher gusts. Farther south, a warning spans southeastern Oregon’s Fremont National Forest near Summer Lake and Modoc County outside the Surprise Valley, where forecasters expect southwest to west winds of 10 to 20 mph gusting 25 to 35 mph, minimum humidity of 8 to 15 percent, and critical conditions lasting three to seven hours.
In the Pacific Northwest, warnings extend across ten Washington counties — Asotin, Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille and Stevens — along with Idaho’s Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, Bonner and Boundary counties and Oregon’s Baker County. Colorado’s warnings cluster along the northern Front Range foothills and eastern plains, touching Douglas, Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties among others.
A separate hazard emerged along Colorado’s urban corridor: the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an Ozone Action Day Alert for the Front Range, covering Douglas, Jefferson, Denver, western Arapahoe, western Adams, Broomfield, Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties, running from 4 p.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday amid hot, sunny conditions favorable for ozone buildup.
The National Weather Service is urging residents in warned areas to avoid activities that could spark a blaze near dry vegetation — yard work, target shooting or campfires — and to follow local fire restrictions. Offices in Reno and Medford, Oregon, are directing residents to county-level restriction and emergency-alert sign-up pages.
With the count down significantly from Saturday’s 37, forecasters will be watching whether the reprieve holds through the day or whether shifting winds re-expand the warned area heading into the workweek.