The National Weather Service has issued 44 active Red Flag Warnings spanning ten states — California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming — as a combination of strong winds, low humidity and dry vegetation raises the risk of fast-moving wildfires across the West and into the Plains.
The warnings cover a broad swath of terrain, from the Color Country West Desert and Mojave Desert in the Southwest to the Blue Mountains and Columbia Basin along the Oregon-Washington border, and east into Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin and Montana’s Gallatin National Forest. In Utah, forecasters are tracking southwest winds of 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph and relative humidity as low as 8 percent — conditions the agency says make any new fire start likely to spread rapidly.
The most severe warnings are concentrated in Oregon and Washington, where the National Weather Service has declared a Particularly Dangerous Situation, its highest fire-weather alert level, in effect from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. today. That designation covers a chain of zones including the Kittitas Valley, the Lower Columbia Basin, the Northern Blue Mountains, the Grande Ronde Valley, the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Canyon Grasslands of Wallowa County. A Particularly Dangerous Situation red flag warning signals that critical fire weather is not just possible but imminent or already underway, prompting officials to urge heightened caution with any activity that could spark a blaze.
Farther east, Wyoming’s warnings stretch across the North and South Bighorn Basins, the Upper Wind River Basin, Sweetwater County and the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, while Idaho’s alerts cover the Sawtooth Range, the Upper Snake River Valley and the Lemhi and Lost River mountain ranges. Montana warnings extend from the Gallatin National Forest through Stillwater, Wheatland and Sweet Grass counties to Yellowstone County. Isolated warnings also apply in Nebraska and New York, underscoring how widespread the dry, gusty pattern has become outside its usual Western stronghold.
The National Weather Service defines a Red Flag Warning as meaning critical fire weather conditions are either occurring or expected shortly, driven by the combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures. Residents in warned areas are advised to avoid outdoor burning, dragging trailer chains, or any spark-producing activity, and to have evacuation plans ready given how quickly fire behavior can change under these conditions. A Fire Weather Watch remains in place in some adjacent areas, meaning conditions could deteriorate further and warrant upgrades to Red Flag Warnings in the coming days.