Critical to extreme fire conditions are expected to affect more than 2.7 million people across the Southwest, lower Great Plains and Texas, including the oil-rich Permian Basin.
A large low-pressure system is forecast to move across the central Great Plains, bringing blizzard conditions on its north side and raising fire risks to its south, said David Roth, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. Red flag fire warnings have been issued across parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, while wind watches and warnings reach South Dakota in the north and Alabama in the east.
Extreme conditions are primarily focused on eastern New Mexico and the western tip of Texas, while a critical situation reaches across a wider area, including Midland, and Odessa, Texas, the US Storm Prediction Center said. In addition to the fire threat, there is a chance of blizzards across Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, as well as dust storms throughout the Plains.
The most recent wave of extreme weather, which touched off fires across South Carolina and prompted evacuations over the weekend, comes days after the National Weather Service’s parent agency – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – fired at least 880 employees. It also comes about a year after similar conditions spurred wildfires across Texas and Oklahoma that set records.