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Fire weather concerns persist in the Western Corn Belt this week

A climatologist says elevated wildfire risks will likely continue through the week for parts of the Western Corn Belt. 

Eric Hunt with the University of Nebraska says conditions could slightly improve over the next 24 to 48 hours. “Much warmer temperatures in western Nebraska and spreading into the eastern portions of the state on Wednesday. Wind speeds are expecting to be lighter than they have been the last next several days.  They should stay lighter in the mornings in the next several days, but in western Nebraska I do think we’re looking at wind speeds in the 15 to 20 mile per hour range.”

He tells Brownfield it will still be challenging for firefighters who are already working to extinguish four ongoing fires. “That’s not the most critical fire weather, but if we’re trying to control and contain fires any wind speed is not helpful. We’re also looking at looking low relative humidity in the afternoons.”

Hunt says the greatest risk will likely be west of Highway 281 and is not optimistic about any precipitation.