Red Flag Warning & Wind Advisory In The Forecast

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The National Weather Service is saying that Friday will be the worst fire weather day North Texas has seen in over two years. On April 9, 2009, the NWS issued 12 Fire Weather Warnings for various counties across North Texas. Most of those were to the west of the Interstate-35 corridor.

Powerful winds on Friday, coupled with a relative humidity below 10 percent, will create conditions which are conducive for explosive wildfire development. A Red Flag Warning is in effect until 10:00 p.m. on Friday night for areas along and west of the Interstate-35 corridor, including Dallas County and Tarrant County.

Friday will see northwest winds between 25 mph and 35 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph seeming likely. Any locations from Fort Worth and west may see winds gusting up to 55 mph. Areas southeast of the Metroplex will see winds gusting at around 45 mph.

As you might expect with all that gusting, a Wind Advisory is in effect until 8:00 p.m. Friday night. The high temperatures across North Texas will push into the mid-70s with sunny skies and an extremely low relative humidity. The winds will ease up overnight into Saturday, and temperatures will drop into the low 40s, with rurual areas dipping into the upper 30s.

Saturday will start off chilly, but finish with mild conditions – sunshine and high temperatures in the mid-70s with light winds. The winds will pick up again from the south on Sunday and bring warmer, more humid air. Look for high temperatures on Sunday to be near 85 degrees, with mostly sunny skies.

Next week features an unsettled pattern with windy, humid and hot conditions. All of North Texas will see a 20 to 30 percent chance for storms Monday through Thursday. Severe storm systems should graze North Texas to the northwest. But we will stay on the warm side for each of these potentially stormy days. High temperatures will threaten to hit the 90-degree mark over much of next week.