Warm, windy, and dry weather is bringing elevated fire risks to Minnesota on Wednesday.
The National Weather Service has declared elevated fire weather conditions across most of the state, especially in western Minnesota.
"With temps warming into the low to mid 70s and dewpoints in the mid 40s, our relative humidity on Wednesday will drop to the 30 percent range," said NWS Twin Cities meteorologist Caleb Grunzke. "Combined with winds sustained southerly winds of 20 to 25 miles per hour, and gusts up to 35 or 40 across western Minnesota, along with dry fuels, we'll have a very conducive environment for fires. If a fire were to get going, it'd spready very quickly."
Grunzke said Wednesday morning that while western Minnesota remains at a higher risk due to sustained wind gusts, the Twin Cities needs to use caution throughout the day as well.
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"We just have really bad drought conditions across Minnesota and that can counterbalance the slightly weaker winds that we may see here in the Twin Cities."
A new drought monitor is expected Thursday morning. Last week, the drought monitor showed 78 percent of the state was abnormally dry, 16 percent was in severe drought, and 4 percent of Minnesota was in extreme drought.
The Minnesota DNR's fire danger map shows much of the state, including the Twin Cities, is in very high fire danger meaning fires start easily and spread at a very fast rate.