Red Flag Warning for Lots of NE

Please DON'T "smoke 'em if you got 'em" while you're out in the woods in conditions like today's. And a campfire is not "out" unless you could hold the coals in your hands without feeling any warmth. (Note: An identical warning like the one below currently extends into central and SE NH, as far as S. Grafton and S. Carroll counties):

RED FLAG WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
339 PM EDT WED APR 19 2006


HARTFORD CT-TOLLAND CT-WINDHAM CT-WESTERN FRANKLIN MA-
EASTERN FRANKLIN MA-NORTHERN WORCESTER MA-WESTERN HAMPSHIRE MA-
WESTERN HAMPDEN MA-EASTERN HAMPSHIRE MA-EASTERN HAMPDEN MA-
SOUTHERN WORCESTER MA-NORTHERN MIDDLESEX MA-CHESHIRE NH-
EASTERN HILLSBOROUGH NH-WESTERN AND CENTRAL HILLSBOROUGH NH-
339 PM EDT WED APR 19 2006

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS
EVENING...

A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING.

THE RED FLAG WARNING INCLUDES NORTHERN CONNECTICUT...CENTRAL AND
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE.

RED FLAG CONDITIONS ARE IN PLACE THIS AFTERNOON WITH RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES OF 15 TO 25 PERCENT AND NORTH WINDS GUSTING TO 25 TO 30
MPH. SHOULD A FIRE START...CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR RAPID FIRE
GROWTH.

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EXPECTED. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE
HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH
POTENTIAL.

A related story from today's Conway Daily Sun:

4/19/2006

Warm, mostly dry conditions cling to Conway
White Mountain National Forest plans controlled burning

David Carkhuff

CONWAY—A warmer-than-average April in Conway may not deliver the type of showers needed to bring May flowers or to offer a reprieve from severe fire danger later this summer.
"There's not much going on in terms of rain, mostly clouds," said James Brown, meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Gray, Maine.
Month-to-date precipitation in Conway as of April 18 totaled 1.77 inches, according to local weather observer Briggs Bunker. With 13 days left, a surprise spurt of rainfall would be needed for this April to meet the month's 47-year average of 4.01 inches.
It's been short-sleeves weather, with an average temperature of 45.3 degrees through April 18, compared with a 47-year average temperature of 42.4 degrees in April, Bunker reported. Mostly thanks to an early-April snow flurry, 3.1 inches of snowfall have fallen for the month to date, compared with 5.5 inches of snowfall for the entire month in the 47-year average, he said.
The U.S. Forest Service reported Monday that fire danger is high on the White Mountain National Forest. The National Wildland Fire Outlook for April 1-30 reports, "Dry and cool northerly flow dominated the eastern U.S. during the last half of March, especially across southeastern New England and the eastern Mid-Atlantic states. This has led to the onset of short-term drought over these areas. The 1,000-hour fuel moistures from Mid-Atlantic Remote Automatic Weather Stations were calculated at or below 16 percent which is well below normal and fire danger indices were near or at record high levels."
Brown said a low pressure system that brought clinging clouds is expected to slide to the west.
"It looks like this thing hangs on to us pretty good until the middle of the week, and finally begins to move out on Thursday and Friday," he said. "It looks like at least for the first part of the weekend we're under the influence of a ridge of high pressure, it looks like fairly decent weather. ... It's probably a little bit cooler than it is right now, highs around 50, on Sunday."
Keeping an eye on the weather, the U.S. Forest Service plans to burn national forest lands in Chatham and Conway, as well as in Livermore, Bethlehem, Carroll, Randolph and Stark. A total of about 112 acres of the almost 800,000-acre national forest will be burned, with individual sites ranging from 3-30 acres in size, the agency reported.
Don Muise, fire management officer with the national forest, is keeping a close eye on the weather and moisture levels in the various sites around the forest, according to a U.S. Forest Service press release.
“We have a site-specific burn plan for each area that describes the exact conditions we need before we’ll ignite a fire," he said. "We wait for the right wind, weather, and moisture levels that will allow us to burn safely while meeting specific resource objectives. The burn plans also spell out all the details for the kinds of equipment and the number of trained firefighters needed at the site, and coordination requirements with state forest rangers and local fire departments.”
The site in Conway is a forested stand that will be “underburned” — where low-intensity fire clears some of the competing vegetation from the forest floor to allow oak and pine seedlings to take hold, the U.S. Forest Service reported. Fire is part of the ecological process that promotes oak and pine, and is useful in perpetuating these species in the national forest, the agency explained.

Assistant editor David Carkhuff can be contacted at [email protected].

Timely post and good advice! Last year a local woman doused her backyard fire (barbeque) numerous times with a 5 gallon bucket of water....she checked on it for many hours until the time she went out and saw her backyard on fire! It is amazing how fast an uphill fire can spread on a breezey day following a week without rain...

As Smokey has said for many decades, "only YOU can prevent forest fires"...

....Jade

The "Eye on the Sky" guys from the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, VT,
http://www.fairbanksmuseum.org/eye_detailed.cfm
were talking about this today, too. During the VPR noontime weather report, the forecaster said something about folks "not throwing cigarettes out their car windows today." I kinda cracked up 'cuz I thought that was always sort of faux pas... isn't it??

It's been warm, very dry, and windy today. WMNF has posted a "very high" Smokey alert, er, I guess that's a "very high fire danger" alert for April 19. It will continue dry for the rest of the week but the winds should die down.

Stinkyfeet, if the Eye-Sky guy is an oldie, he remembers the '60s when everybody threw almost everything out of car windows. Hard to believe now.

Poughkeepsie Journal Article & NOAA Weather Forecast (Hudson Valley)

For us in the Hudson Valley, the Poughkeepsie Journal has an article as well posted today...

Warning: Fire risk very high

And looking at NOAA's website there is a hazardous weather forecast posted:
=========================================================
Hazardous Weather Outlook
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
309 AM EDT THU APR 20 2006

CTZ001-013-MAZ001-025-NYZ032-033-038>043-047>054-058>061-063>066-
082>084-VTZ013>015-211200-
NORTHERN LITCHFIELD-SOUTHERN LITCHFIELD-NORTHERN BERKSHIRE-
SOUTHERN BERKSHIRE-NORTHERN HERKIMER-HAMILTON-SOUTHERN HERKIMER-
SOUTHERN FULTON-MONTGOMERY-NORTHERN SARATOGA-NORTHERN WARREN-
NORTHERN WASHINGTON-SCHOHARIE-WESTERN SCHENECTADY-
EASTERN SCHENECTADY-SOUTHERN SARATOGA-WESTERN ALBANY-
EASTERN ALBANY-WESTERN RENSSELAER-EASTERN RENSSELAER-
WESTERN GREENE-EASTERN GREENE-WESTERN COLUMBIA-EASTERN COLUMBIA-
WESTERN ULSTER-EASTERN ULSTER-WESTERN DUTCHESS-EASTERN DUTCHESS-
NORTHERN FULTON-SOUTHEAST WARREN-SOUTHERN WASHINGTON-BENNINGTON-
WESTERN WINDHAM-EASTERN WINDHAM-
309 AM EDT THU APR 20 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHERN
CONNECTICUT...WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS...EAST CENTRAL NEW YORK AND
SOUTHERN VERMONT.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

AN ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER AWARENESS FOR THIS AFTERNOON.

THE COMBINATION OF DRY FUELS...RELATIVE HUMIDITIES DROPPING TO
AROUND 25 PERCENT THIS AFTERNOON...ALONG WITH LOCAL WIND GUSTS OUT
OF THE NORTH IN THE 12-24 MPH RANGE...HAS PROMPTED THE ELEVATED FIRE
WEATHER AWARENESS. WHILE THE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL WILL NOT BE
QUITE AS HIGH AS ON WEDNESDAY...IT WILL STILL BE HIGHER THAN
NORMAL. OUTDOOR BURNING IS STILL DISCOURAGED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED
=========================================================

I hope we get those showers they are prdicting this weekend!

Catch you later...
Kevin

It ain't over till it's over -- new watch posted today. Sure hope we get those promised rains:

Hazardous Weather Outlook

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
518 AM EDT THU APR 20 2006

NORTHERN FRANKLIN-CENTRAL SOMERSET-SOUTHERN OXFORD-
SOUTHERN FRANKLIN-SOUTHERN SOMERSET-INTERIOR YORK-
INTERIOR CUMBERLAND-ANDROSCOGGIN-KENNEBEC-INTERIOR WALDO-
COASTAL YORK-COASTAL CUMBERLAND-SAGADAHOC-LINCOLN-KNOX-
COASTAL WALDO-NORTHERN COOS-SOUTHERN COOS-NORTHERN GRAFTON-
NORTHERN CARROLL-SOUTHERN GRAFTON-SOUTHERN CARROLL-SULLIVAN-
MERRIMACK-BELKNAP-STRAFFORD-INTERIOR ROCKINGHAM-
COASTAL ROCKINGHAM-
518 AM EDT THU APR 20 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN MAINE...
CENTRAL NEW HAMPSHIRE...NORTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE...SOUTHEASTERN NEW
HAMPSHIRE AND THE COASTAL WATERS FROM STONINGTON ME TO THE
MERRIMACK RIVER MA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THERE IS AN ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER RISK TODAY ACROSS WESTERN
MAINE...AND NEW HAMPSHIRE TODAY. LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES AND WINDS
BETWEEN 10 AND 20 MPH WILL RESULT IN A HIGH FIRE DANGER TODAY.
ALTHOUGH A RED FLAG WARNING IS NOT ANTICIPATED...IF WINDS BECOME
STRONGER THAN FORECAST...A RED FLAG WARNING MAY BE REQUIRED.

Stinkyfeet said:

The "Eye on the Sky" guys from the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, VT,
http://www.fairbanksmuseum.org/eye_detailed.cfm
were talking about this today, too. During the VPR noontime weather report, the forecaster said something about folks "not throwing cigarettes out their car windows today." I kinda cracked up 'cuz I thought that was always sort of faux pas... isn't it??

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that link. they have come along way. Seems like yesterday that Fred Mold was doing the weather on the local radio with his bird recordings. I spent alot of time in that museum as a kid.

Been on vacation but heard from my dad that 20+ acres on Gap Mt. burned (Fitzwilliam, NH) Do not know the exact location of the fire though.

ADacKR and I just returned from a week of camping at Assateague Island National Park (Maryland/Virginia border). There was a fire ban there the entire week. Kind of a bummer, but necessary. It is extremely dry, even on the coast.

And the hits just keep on coming

Nope, ain't over yet. In our immediate area, greenup has just started and the ground fuels are almost as dry as they were before the recent rains:

FIRE WEATHER WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
346 PM EDT SUN APR 30 2006

...DRY CONDITIONS AND GUSTY WINDS MAY LEAD TO DANGEROUS FIRE
CONDITIONS MONDAY...

.THE GRADIENT BETWEEN HIGH PRESSURE TO THE NORTH AND LOW PRESSURE
OUT AT SEA WILL TIGHTEN ON MONDAY...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE
FOOTHILLS AND COASTAL SECTIONS OF MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN VERY DRY...AND WILL CONTINUE ON MONDAY. THE
COMBINATION OF LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES AND WINDS MAY RESULT IN
DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS MONDAY.

MEZ012>014-018>028-NHZ005>010-013-014-010900-
/O.NEW.KGYX.FW.A.0002.060501T1500Z-060501T2200Z/
SOUTHERN OXFORD-SOUTHERN FRANKLIN-SOUTHERN SOMERSET-INTERIOR YORK-
INTERIOR CUMBERLAND-ANDROSCOGGIN-KENNEBEC-INTERIOR WALDO-
COASTAL YORK-COASTAL CUMBERLAND-SAGADAHOC-LINCOLN-KNOX-
COASTAL WALDO-SOUTHERN GRAFTON-SOUTHERN CARROLL-SULLIVAN-
MERRIMACK-BELKNAP-STRAFFORD-INTERIOR ROCKINGHAM-
COASTAL ROCKINGHAM-
346 PM EDT SUN APR 30 2006

...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY MORNING THROUGH
MONDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAY HAS ISSUED A FIRE WEATHER
WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE MONDAY MORNING THROUGH MONDAY
AFTERNOON.

THE COMBINATION OF DRY CONDITIONS AND GUSTY WINDS WILL INCREASE
FIRE DANGER ON MONDAY. CONDITIONS MAY REACH RED FLAG WARNING
CRITERIA IN THE WATCH AREA.

A FIRE WEATHER WATCH MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE FORECAST TO OCCUR. LISTEN FOR LATER FORECASTS AND POSSIBLE RED
FLAG WARNINGS.

$$

APFFEL