Southwest Oregon Wildfire Information Center

 

Red Flag Warning

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Medford OR
909 PM PDT Sat Sep 26 2020

...Gusty east winds and low humidities Sunday night into Monday...

.Gusty winds with poor humidity recoveries will develop on higher
elevation areas in the southern coastal ranges, Siskiyous and
western Siskiyou County Sunday night. Humidities will lower further
Monday with gusty east winds remaining from the coastal ranges and
inland to Cascades at mostly higher elevations. Also low humidity
with occasional gusty east to southeast winds and are expected to
reach the valley floors at times in the Rogue Valley in Jackson and
Josephine Counties during the day Monday. Winds are not expected
to be as strong as the east wind event that occured three weeks
ago, but this event should still be taken seriously. People should
avoid creating ANY sparks or starting fires. Take precautions when
using power tools and driving and parking offroad. Winds will
lower Monday night but expect continued hot and dry weather through
Thursday.

CAZ280-ORZ619>623-272130-
/O.CON.KMFR.FW.W.0029.200928T0700Z-200929T0300Z/
Western Klamath National Forest-Western Rogue River-
Siskiyou National Forest-
Western Rogue Basin including the Illinois Valley-
Siskiyou Mountains-Eastern Rogue Valley-Southern Oregon Cascades-
909 PM PDT Sat Sep 26 2020

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT SUNDAY NIGHT
TO 8 PM PDT MONDAY FOR EAST WIND WITH POOR OVERNIGHT RH RECOVERY
AND STRONG GUSTY WIND WITH LOW RH FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 280...
619...620...621...622 AND 623...

* Impacts: East winds, poor relative humidity recovery, low daytime
  humidity, and high fire danger will likely contribute to a
  significant spread of new and existing fires.

* Affected area:
  In Northern CA Fire Weather Zone 280 including the Slater and Devil
  fires.
  In Southwest OR Fire Weather Zones 619...620 including the Slater
  fire and portions of the Rogue Valley...621...622 including the
  Obenchain Fire and the Rogue Valley...623 south of Crater Lake.

* Wind: East to southeast 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.
  Gusts to 40 mph on the ridges. Strongest valley winds will be in
  southeast to northwest oriented drainages like the Bear Creek
  Valley near Ashland.

* Humidity: Sunday night humidity recovery of only 20 to 30 percent
  on the upper slopes and ridges. Daytime humidity as low as 10
  percent.

* View the hazard area in detail at:
https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mfr/HAZARD

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

* Strong winds and low relative humidities will cause fires to
spread very rapidly.

* One less spark, one less wildfire.