The National Weather Service has posted 22 Red Flag Warnings across ten states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming — as forecasters warn that hot, dry and gusty conditions could send any new fire racing out of control.
The warnings cover a broad swath of the northern Rockies and Great Plains, including Wyoming’s Fremont, Natrona, Big Horn, Hot Springs, Johnson, Park and Washakie counties, and Montana’s Golden Valley, Musselshell and Wheatland counties, along with the Gallatin National Forest, the Custer National Forest’s Beartooth and Sioux ranger districts, and Idaho’s East Salmon River Mountains and Lemhi and Lost River ranges. In Nebraska’s Pine Ridge and the Thunder Basin National Grassland area straddling Wyoming, forecasters flagged the same volatile mix of low humidity and wind.
In southern Alaska’s Copper River Valley, the National Weather Service said southeast winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph will combine with relative humidity as low as 20 percent and afternoon temperatures in the lower to mid 70s beginning around midday and lasting into the evening, before conditions ease as temperatures cool after 7 p.m. The agency said the setup — areas along the Copper and Chitina rivers are specifically named — is capable of producing rapid ignition, growth and spread of any fire that starts.
Across the Wyoming and Montana fire zones, the Weather Service cited the same core hazard: low humidity, hot temperatures and strong, gusty winds capable of producing erratic fire behavior that can outrun containment efforts. A Red Flag Warning means those critical conditions are either imminent or already underway and is aimed primarily at fire crews and land managers, though the public is urged to avoid outdoor burning, dragging chains or any activity that could throw a spark. Some adjacent zones remain under a Fire Weather Watch, meaning the same conditions are forecast but not yet locked in — a signal to watch for upgrades as the day develops.
The alerts stretch from Yukon Flats in interior Alaska to the high plains of eastern Wyoming and South Dakota’s Black Hills fringe, underscoring how widespread the fire-weather setup has become heading into mid-July. Residents in Casper weather and Billings weather should expect elevated fire danger through the evening hours before winds and humidity begin to moderate.