The red flag warning in effect for Long Island, New York City and the lower Hudson Valley has been extended until 6 p.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service in New York said Friday afternoon.
A red flag warning is issued when a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and dry fuels will create a significantly elevated fire growth potential, the weather service said in a statement.
Northwest winds of 15-20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph and relative humidity as low as 25% are forecast.
These conditions are considered critical fire conditions and when they occur, rapid fire spread can be expected, the weather service said. Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly.
Any potential ignition sources, including smoking materials such as cigarette butts should be properly extinguished, the weather service said.
The red flag warning was issued yesterday, the fourth red flag warning issued in the past two weeks. The warnings were in effect Oct. 26-27 and Nov. 1.
The state has published a data-driven, real-time fire weather tracking tool to generate daily fire danger ratings and offer more reliable wild fire information. The tool is available online here.
The warning comes as the region continues to experience unusually dry weather with near-record high temperatures this fall.
Average daily temperatures in the month of October were 3.2 degrees higher than normal, according to weather data collected from the weather service’s Baiting Hollow weather station. November has begun with exceptionally warm weather: average daily temperatures 9.2 degrees above normal from Nov. 1 through Nov. 8. The deviation from normal was slightly less at the Islip station, where average daily temperatures were 2.7 degrees above normal in October and 6 degrees above normal in Islip.
There has been no measurable rain in the Long Island region since Oct. 7, when a .11-inch rainfall was recorded in Baiting Hollow (.10 inches in Islip.) A trace amount was recorded on the East End Oct. 30.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation declared a “drought watch” for the Hudson Valley and New York City regions last week. Long Island was not included in the watch, which is based on hydrological conditions, the agency said, because the island did not meet the state’s criteria.
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