Ticker for March 5, 2018

                
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March 5, 2018      March 5, 2018      March 5, 2018      March 5, 2018


Great balls of fire!




When the word "outbreak" gets mentioned in March, most of our brains go directly
to tornadoes. Or this year, flu. But if you're a firefighter, you know what
humidity in the teens will do when combined with dead/dormant vegetation and
winds gusting upwards of 50 mph.

Wildfire outbreak.

If you don't believe me (and why should ya, for crying out loud!), then take the
word of the experts at the OK Dept. of Forestry:

A Red Flag Warning is in effect for a large portion of Oklahoma along
and west of a line from Ottawa County to Tillman County and a Fire
Weather Watch is in effect on Tuesday for an expanded area. Very dry
and windy conditions following a cold front will support highly receptive
fine-fuels and rapid to extreme rates of fire spread. Any fire that
starts will grow quickly and fires that become established will be very
difficult to contain. Critical fire weather will occur in a broad swath
across the state with the extreme indices in much of western Oklahoma
and critical into northern and central counties. Areas of eastern
Oklahoma will again return to fire danger with increasing fire
occurrence expected.

Tomorrow will present even more challenging fire weather/danger boosted
by intense drying today and continued strong, northwest winds. Fire
danger will be present through the week with dry conditions expected.
Wet ground should be scouted in advance of committing any firefighting
apparatus insuring that engines and equipment are not committed to
areas where they may get stuck in unburned fuels risking burnover.

What? Eastern OK? But they just got a ton of rain? Many tons, actually? How
could they be back in fire danger? Well, simply put, they ain't green. Not yet,
at least. They will green up nicely once it warms up thanks to all that soil
moisture, but until then, they're still sitting there with a lot of dead/dormant
vegetation. One of the best kept secrets of the cool season portion of OK
fire season. It can rain in the morning and you can have fires later that day.
And the rains only make fighting the fires harder because the equipment can get
stuck in the mud, endangering that equipment and the folks that use it.

Here are some reinforcing graphics from our NWS friends.













And don't forget, regardless of fires, it's going to be a miserably windy day.
And dry, of course.







So take those fire safety precautions, and more importantly, those fire
PREVENTION precautions. Don't operate machinery that causes sparks, no outside
burning, etc. etc., and most importantly, don't throw those lit cigarette butts
out of your car window, or Smokey Bear will hunt you down and kick YOUR butt.

Gary McManus
State Climatologist
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org