At 1:56 p.m. on Wednesday, the National Weather Service released an updated fire weather watch valid for Thursday between noon and 8 p.m. for Kit Carson and Cheyenne counties.

Residents can expect winds to be south 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and relative humidity as low as 9%.

“Interesting fire weather setup with a trough forecast to be in place over the area leading to two separate areas of fire weather concerns. The first for Nebraska and Kansas is forecast to see longer duration of critical fire weather conditions starting as early as the late morning with wind gusts up to 30 mph then declining in magnitude around 6pm central time. The second is across eastern Colorado where wind gusts may be a little more delayed until the mid afternoon but continue into the evening hours.A wind shift to the northwest is forecast early Friday morning which would change fire spread directions should one be present,” comments the NWS. “Unpredictable fire behavior. Any fires that develop may rapidly grow and spread out of control.”

According to the NWS, a fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are possible. Listen for later forecasts and possible red flag warnings.

Source: The National Weather Service