WOW this is a new one on me...We have all kinds of weather watches in these parts but

[madmom]

as far as I know this is a first...




.FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A FIRE WEATHER WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING.

HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 80S...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES NEAR 25 PERCENT...AND SUSTAINED SOUTHERLY WINDS IN THE 15 TO 25 MPH RANGE ARE POSSIBLE FRIDAY INTO FRIDAY EVENING.

THIS COMBINATION WILL CREATE HAZARDOUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ACROSS THE WATCH AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS. THESE WEATHER CONDITIONS...COMBINED WITH VERY DRY FUELS...WILL LEAD TO AN INCREASED FIRE DANGER. OUTDOOR BURNING IS NOT ADVISED THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING DUE TO THIS INCREASED RISK.

[Xithras]

1. They issue alerts for that?

That's a nice summer afternoon here in California :)

[kestrel91316]

13. LOL, so true!

[Bryn]

2. I get same warning here in Arkansas

FIRE WEATHER ....

Strange to me. Never heard of this one. Fire weather? lol

[ljm2002]

14. Very dry, windy weather...

...combined with lots of available, dry fuel == high fire danger. The wind is what makes it especially dangerous as sparks and burning debris can fly off causing the fire to spread very quickly, and be hard to control.

If you recall the Oakland Hills fire some years ago (1991? or thereabouts), those were exactly the conditions that made it disastrous. If the wind had not died down early that afternoon, it would have been much, much worse.

[MadHound]

3. Basically this is trying to prevent people from burning

But idiots will do so anyway. Lots of people this time of year like to burn off their grass, garden, cropland, etc. Most are sensible enough not to do so in this kind of weather. But there's always some idiots that will spark it up anyway, and fire departments across the Midwest will be busy putting out brush fires.

[HillbillyBob]

9. And there is no reason to burn that stuff off

It actually will do your garden soil good to turn it under and let it decay in the ground where it traps the carbon and adds organic material to the soil for better growth.

We get fire weather warnings here in NC too, the trees around our house are cut back at least 100 feet from the house(more mostly). I have found evidence of wild fire in our woods looks like its from about 20 yrs ago judging from the growth of new bark/wood over the catsfaces.
We plan to put on metal roof and siding for that among other reasons.

We plant cover crops in our garden to keep the soil in place over winter, usually clover/timothy and alfalfa, time comes to plant we mow it over and turn it under.

[MadHound]

10. Actually by turning it to ash it does do much good

Burn offs are needed every once in a while in most plains type habitats. I generally alternate between burning off my garden and turning it under.

[HillbillyBob]

11. We add the ashes from the fire place and the ashes from

brush pile left here when we moved in and it was full of poison ivy,,now there is a good reason to burn it and stay upwind from it. We have 7 acres of woods we need to pull the downtrees out and do something with. Mostly are just rotting and can be knocked apart and thin out the under growth a bit, not to park like standards, but to get the non native/trash trees and poison ivy and honey suckle down some so there is not so much fuel if there is a fire.
I understand the need for occasional fire, but I see folks around here I think are just firebugs and burning toxic trash like plastics and furniture foam.

[MadHound]

12. You actually might want to leave some of those dead trees up

They provide homes for woodpeckers, owls and such, not to mention attracting bugs which are these birds food source.

Burning foam and plastic, yeah, that's almost criminal in my book. Burning poison ivy, better you than me. If I need to pull it down I toss it in a small ravine out back and let it compost.

[Cleita]

4. We have them all the time here on the west coast during fire season.

Yes, we have a fire season. They are fire danger warnings and are rated from low to high. I suppose in a more humid state like yours such warnings would be pretty exotic.

[Warpy]

5. 25% humidity is downright muggy here in NM

but throw in some hot winds and yes, use that damned ashtray in your car if you're dumb enough to smoke.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. dry...low humidex...wind...we get these alerts whenever this combo happens n/t

[spin]

7. Fire watches are common in Florida ...

In fact in the part of northern Florida we have a Red Flag Warning right now. I believe that's the next higher level of a Fire Weather Watch.

You can look at a map of all the nation wide warnings at

http://www.weather.gov/

[fascisthunter]

If I Could, I'd Send you Water... we have plenty of that here in MA

[fascisthunter]

8. double post

[Raven]

15. We have them in NH too. n/t

[AngryOldDem]

16. Heard of Red Flag Warnings but not a Fire Watch.

This covers most of the state. The rest of Indiana is still under a flood warning.

It's great to have such weather so early, but there's always a price to pay.