Weather conditions in parts of the Missouri Ozarks on Tuesday, February 15 could lead to fires getting out of control.
Red flag warning
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for far southwest Missouri and extreme southeast Kansas. A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are occurring now or will shortly, according to the NWS.
Meteorologist Steve Lindenberg with the National Weather Service office in Springfield said those areas will see dry conditions Tuesday with wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour.
“That’s going to combine with low relative humidities that we’re expecting from late this morning through the afternoon hours and then cause some fire weather concerns. So fires could spread pretty rapidly under these conditions," said Lindenberg.
The weather service recommends against outdoor burning.
Wintry mix to arrive by Thursday
Despite temperatures peaking in the 60s on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the Ozarks forecast for Thursday is calling for rain and freezing rain, possibly mixed with snow before 3:00 p.m. Later that day, forecasters expect the possibility of freezing rain and snow, with temperatures in the 40s.
The area with the highest potential for freezing rain is over extreme southeast Kansas into west central and central Missouri, according to the National Weather Service. Currently, the weather service expects the greatest chances for accumulating snow north of Interstate-44.
By Sunday, temperatures should be back up in the 60s, forecasters say.