Enjoy the warm, cold will make a comeback!

Yesterday we had very dangerous fire conditions across the entire state. I know of at least 3 major wild fires that broke out and several smaller ones. One of the major fires broke out very close to Boone around 3:30 pm yesterday afternoon. The fire was caused by the wind toppling over a power line and the active line ignited a fire near bamboo road. Because the winds were sustained 30-40 and at times where gusting over 50 mph the fire rapidly spread up Rocky Knob. The official acreage burned has not been released and I do not know if the fire has been extinguished but I do know that it is much smaller and has probably been contained. Conditions today should help the fire fighters put out the remaining fire. Relative Humidity has risen from about 17% to 66% here at my station in Lenoir and winds are calm this morning. Relative Humidity as also risen from about 18% to 80% in Boone and winds are currently calm as well.

Dry conditions will continue for the rest of the week but fire conditions will not be as explosive as yesterday. Until we get some rain everyone needs to be very careful. Please to not burn, or throw out cigarettes.

Forecast:

Mountains-

Today will be the coolest day this week, with highs around 50. This week will feature plenty of sunshine and warming temperatures. By Friday we should be approaching if not exceeding 60 here in the mountain areas. Saturday and Sunday a front will push through but it will not have much moisture to work with. A few showers are possible. Temperatures will fall into the 50's Saturday and 40's on Sunday for day time highs ending a stretch of really warm weather.

In the long range, next week will favor a storm track cutting into the Ohio river valley, this kind of track favors rain in our area and not snow, but after yesterdays fires we will take the rain! There are indications that much colder air will move back in between March 1 and March 3 but sometimes the models try to cause a pattern change faster than it actually happens. Stay tuned!

Foothills and Piedmont-

Today will be the coolest day this week, with highs around 60. This week will feature plenty of sunshine and warming temperatures. By Friday we should be approaching if not exceeding 70 here in the foothills and Piedmont areas. Some places may even push into the middle to upper 70s. Saturday and Sunday a front will push through but it will not have much moisture to work with. A few showers are possible. Temperatures will fall into the 60s Saturday and 50s on Sunday for day time highs ending a stretch of really warm weather.

In the long range next week will favor a storm track cutting into the Ohio river valley, this kind of track favors rain in our area and not snow but after yesterdays firess we will take the rain! There are indications that much colder air will move back in between March 1 and March 3 but sometimes the models try to cause a pattern change faster than it actually happens. Stay tuned!