It ’s been arough startto wildfire season on the Southern Plains . Oklahoma ’s third megafire in three years is presently raging across the state , fueled by a spate of hot , ironical weather . contiguous United States Department of State have been on high alert as spicy , juiceless stipulation and strong winds lock in inserious fire dangeracross the region .
On Tuesday , the National Weather Service warned that westerly Oklahoma was experiencing its most idealistic fire - spreading shape in a decade , consort to theAssociated Press . Temperatures have been in the mid-90s , humidness levels have been desert - similar , and winds have been gusting at up to 40 miles per hour .
Those experimental condition are having consequences . As of this morn the Rhea Fire , which began on April 12 , had balloon toover 260,000 acresin westerly Oklahoma ’s Dewey County , well past the 100,000 - acre shortcut used to demarcate megafires . As of this cockcrow , it was only three percent take , according to theOklahoma Forestry Services . Oklahoma 4 Newsreports that 50 homes have been consumed by the flame so far .
At least one other expectant fire is burning in the state . Just 20 miles awayin Woodward County , the 34 Complex Fire hovered around 70,000 demesne in sizing this aurora , and was just under 50 percent hold in .
A Red Flag Fire warning remains in effect across western Oklahoma until Tuesday evening , with both of these major fires expected to preserve growing .
“ While there has n’t been any loss of life reported , the voltage was very gamy yesterday , ” Oklahoma Forestry Services drop a line in its latest update . “ A high threat to the lives of firefighters and the public will continue in westerly Oklahoma until substantial rain is received and Spring greenness up occurs . ”
The tinderbox conditions are n’t unparalleled to Oklahoma . Yesterday , as mention by the Washington Post ’s Capital Weather Gangnoted yesterday , a big belt of the central and southwesterly U.S. faced severe fire risk thanks to affectionate conditions , unattackable winds , and a shortage of rainfall . Conditionshave ameliorate a bit today , but fire danger is still far-flung . As aU.S. Drought Monitor mapissued April 12 shows , everywhere from the Four Corners part to central Oklahoma and Kansas is in the grips of extreme to exceptional drought , the unfit two categories potential .
The bigger ikon context is that for much of the West , firing season is becoming worse due to a compounding ofburgeoning development at the wildlands - urban port , thelegacy of wildfire curtailment policiesthat allowed too much fuel to progress up on landscapes , and clime change , whichhas just about doubledthe area affected by wildfire season in western forests .
In Oklahoma , there ’s another factor at period of play too . As meteorologist Bob Hensonexplainedover at Weather Underground yesterday , the enlargement of eastern scarlet cedar across the Southern Plains is adding boatloads of new fuel to landscapes we typically link up with rolling fields of grass .
“ The same volatile oils that give cedar its appealing smell — think of cedar tree air freshener , or cedar tree plank salmon — can make the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree a practical incendiary bomb when it ’s dried out , ” Henson save .
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