As fire weather conditions cook up for the fall season with the recent dry weather, strong winds, and low relative humidity, the all-too-familiar burn bans have returned. The following counties are under a burn ban: Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clinton, Fayette, Franklin, Hancock, Howard, Mitchell, Winnebago, Wright, and Worth. The dry weather is expected to continue for the most part, so expect more burn bans + continuation of current ones.

Speaking of fire weather, the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls has issued a Fire Weather Watch for a bunch of fire weather zones, technically stated as the Northern Loess Hills and Floyd River Basin and the Iowa Great Lakes/Rock and Little Sioux Basins, however for the sake of simplicity, this encompasses the entirety of the following counties: Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sioux, and Woodbury. This runs from Thursday afternoon through Thursday evening.

25-40 MPH sustained winds in combination with minimum humidity values dropping to the 20-30% range will create very dangerous red flag conditions. Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly – outdoor burning is not recommended.

This will likely be upgraded to a Red Flag Warning by tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to the Iowa Weather Network for the latest information.