The National Weather Service has 37 Red Flag Warnings active Monday across eight states, a modest pullback from the 39 alerts posted Sunday, as fire-weather danger continues to concentrate in Wyoming and its neighbors even as the map contracts elsewhere.
New Jersey and Oklahoma, both of which appeared on Sunday’s list, have cleared entirely. The warnings now span Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming — eight states, down from ten a day earlier. That narrowing marks a fourth straight day of contraction from the 88-alert peak recorded over the weekend.
Wyoming remains the epicenter. The National Weather Service office in Riverton has issued warnings covering fire zones stretching from the Sweetwater County and Rock Springs BLM lands in the southwest to the Sierra Madre Range and Snowy Range along the Colorado border, and north through the Bighorn Mountains, Casper Mountain and the Wind River Basin. Nearly two dozen of Monday’s sample alert areas sit inside Wyoming’s borders, touching counties from Campbell and Crook in the northeast to Carbon and Converse in the south-central plains. The warnings run from noon today to 9 p.m. MDT this evening.
Each Riverton bulletin cites the same trigger: low relative humidity, hot temperatures and strong, gusty winds, compounded by the risk of dry thunderstorms producing erratic outflow winds capable of spreading fire behavior unpredictably. The National Weather Service says any fire ignition under these conditions could spread rapidly and become difficult to control.
Idaho carries the next-heaviest load, with warnings covering the Upper Snake River Valley near Idaho Falls, the Middle Snake River Valley north of Twin Falls, the East Salmon River Mountains, and the Lemhi and Lost River ranges near Challis National Forest. South Dakota’s warning is narrower, limited to the Fall River County area along the Wyoming line.
The pattern reinforces a trend that has held for several days: the interior Rockies and northern Plains, not the coasts, are now the country’s primary fire-weather concern. California and Nevada, which drove the alert count above 80 over the weekend, have shown no red flag activity in either Sunday’s or Monday’s data. The National Weather Service will reassess the zones as afternoon heating peaks and winds shift through the evening hours, when several of today’s warnings are set to expire.
Residents and land managers in the affected fire zones are advised to avoid outdoor burning, dragging trailer chains, or any activity that could throw sparks until warnings lift this evening.