For those of you who live anywhere from northwestern through northcentral thru northeastern OK, there is a Red Flag Fire Warning in effect for roughly the northern third of Oklahoma today. This means that any fires which do start could spread quickly and could prove a little difficult to stop or control. The wind expected here today absolutely does not rise to the level of what has been occurring in California over the last week, but still should be taken seriously.

Here's the text of the Red Flag Fire Warning issued by the Tulsa office of the NWS:

NWS-Tulsa Red Flag Fire Warning

It is harder to link the text of the multiple Red Flag Fire Warning statements issued by the Norman office of the NWS because they were issued for several different blocks of counties at different times over the last 12 or so hours as the warning area for today kept expanding, so I am linking the webpage of NWS-Norman and you can click on it and page down to the county map to see which counties are included. Then, click on any county to read its forecast, and note that warnings like Red Flag statements are near the top of a county's page and you can click on them to read them. Please note that at the present time, the warning area does not include the OKC metro area.:

NWS-Norman

On days like this, remember they are discussing potential fire weather behavior should any fires develop. Sometimes we sail through Red Flag Fire Warning days with no major wildfires whatsoever. It just is important to be aware, report smoke or flames to your local 9-1-1 line, and always have two planned evacuation routes in terms of how (a) you'd get off your property and (b) you'd safely evacuate from your community to avoid the burning areas.

If your garden and landscape beds are mulched and the mulch is dry, it wouldn't hurt to water them today just in case.