The Norman office of the NWS has issued a Fire Weather Watch for some counties in western Oklahoma and western northcentral Texas. The Fire Weather Watch will be in effect from Thursday morning through Thursday evening. On the Fire Weather Graphic, fire danger for Thursday currently is categorized as "Extreme".

The Fire Weather Watch could be upgraded to the more serious Red Flag Fire Warning if forecasted conditions worsen even just a little as Thursday draws closer.

The OK Panhandle counties and parts of adjoining states also have a Fire Weather Watch issued by their offices of the NWS.

FYI: A message has been posted on the OKFire section of the OK Mesonet for a couple of days now which states the NAM has been having a hard time dealing with the melting snow cover and has been underpredicting temperatures and overpredicting relative humidity values, and therefore may be underpredicting the actual fire risk. Thus, you may see higher temps and lower humidity than what the NWS forecast currently shows, and your county's fire danger may be higher than shown on the Fire Weather graphic. While this might not be an issue for the typical Oklahoma resident, it is good to be aware of it, especially if you work in emergency management or if you're in or near an area covered by a Fire Weather Watch or Red Flag Fire Warning.

Many parts of Oklahoma already have had their snow and ice mostly melt away. Since dry, dormant or dead winter vegetation does not absorb moisture and green up like living, non-dormant vegetation does at other times of the year, the recent moisture will have little impact on possible wildfires.

The webpage of the Norman office of the NWS is linked below and the counties with the Fire Weather Watch are a pale pink. You can click on any county to see its forecast or to read the text of any watches, warnings, weather advisories or special weather statements that apply to that county.

In general, the winter fire season correlates fairly closely to our late winter/early spring planting season, so when you're out working in the yard or garden, keep a eye on the skies around you and report smoke plumes to local emergency officials. We're already having grassfires here in our county and have for several days although the ones we've had the last few days have been small and easily contained.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Webpage of Norman NWS Office