Red Flag Warning is issued
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, August 16th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
COLUMBIA BASIN – The National Weather Service at Pendleton has upgraded its fire weather warning to a Red Flag Alert from 10 a.m. Thursday to 9 p.m. Friday. The area affected includes the lower Columbia Basin of Oregon and Washington, the Kittitas Valley, and the east slopes of the northern Cascades in Oregon.
Winds out of the west will be steady at 15 to 25 miles per hour, with some gusts reaching 35 miles per hour. The strongest winds will occur Friday.
Relative humidity for the area could drop as low as 10 percent. That coupled with the winds contribute to rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior.
The cold front moving into the region will begin as a monsoonal wave over Southern and Central Oregon. That will result in widely scattered thunderstorms in those areas, possibly with abundant lightning, Thursday afternoon and evening.
