The National Weather Service has issued a fire danger warning for the lightly shaded areas.
Courtesy photo | National Weather Service
Unseasonably warm weather has ushered in daffodils and other other early spring blooms, but the National Weather Service says the warm weather increases wild fire hazards around the greater Robeson County area.
ELIZABETHTOWN — Summer-like weather arrived to the area this week as moderate temperatures climbed into the high 80s.
National Weather Service forecasters said earlier this week that short sleeve shirt weather will stick around through the weekend with high temperatures expected to be in the high 70s degrees through Monday — with one exception: A chilly rain will move through the region on Friday night and into Saturday, before warmer weather returns on Sunday.
Fire danger
With the unseasonably warm weather comes a Special Weather Statement from the National Weather Service. Officials said the dry weather created conditions that could spark wild firer in the area, but Friday’s rain is expected to dampen the area.
According to the Special Weather Statement, there will be increased fire danger on Feb. 21, when a deep westerly flow in the atmosphere will bring gusty westerly winds and somewhat dry and warm conditions.
In general, the NWS forecasts call for strong winds and warmer weather, forecasting Wednesday will be partly cloudy, according to their website, with wind gusts as high as 28 mph, and Thursday will be sunny with a high of 85, and wind gusts as high as 33 mph.
“Winds from the southwest and west-southwest will advect very warm weather into our area during that time,” explained Pfaff, “ultimately driven by low-pressure migrating from the Central Plains to the Great Lakes region.”
“The Increased Fire Danger Statement for the area today is mainly a result of the gusty winds combined with low relative humidity,” Pfaff explained, “We were anticipating wind gusts to around 30 mph, and minimum relative humidity values around 35%.”
According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts could near or exceed 30 mph at times especially early in the afternoon hours while relative humidity values may dip into the 35 to 40% range. The statement said this combination of gusty winds and low humidity may lead to adverse fire behavior.
In the Special Weather Statement, the National Weather Service suggested contacting local burn permitting authorities if considering burning and if burning, advised people to burn with extreme caution.
“The high temperatures in Lumberton expected this week are very anomalous for this time of year,” stated Warning Coordinator Meteorologist Steven Pfaff with the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Pfaff said the normal high temperature this time of the year should be around 63 degrees, yet on Wednesday and Thursday, the temperature is expected to be 20 degrees above normal.
“In fact,” Pfaff stated, “the low temperatures Wednesday night and Thursday night will be warmer than the normal high temperatures.”
Weather records
If forecasts hold true, Bladen County residents might see record-warm temperatures in the region.
To date, the record high on Sept. 24 was set in 2018 when the mercury rose to 79 degrees. The days that followed saw record highs in the low 80s.