SAN ANTONIO – Wildfires started popping up in the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, as dry air and high winds dominated the area.
The Texas A&M Forest Service received nine requests on Tuesday for assistance on wildfires burning 18,522 acres.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there are two fires, only 10% contained. One is in Oldham County on U.S. Highway 385, and the other is in Donley County near Salt Fork Red River.
Very high winds have been the main issue, as Lubbock saw a peak gust of 73 miles per hour on Tuesday and Amarillo saw a peak gust of 68 miles per hour!
Winds have stayed gusty through Wednesday, and they’ll stay that way going into Thursday. The SPC has another critical fire risk for Thursday and will likely issue one for Friday as well.
For San Antonio, our fire risk will increase this weekend as a cold front moves through. This will significantly lower our dew points, while also increasing our wind speeds.
We’re also in a very dry environment, and last weekend’s rain will not be enough to help drought conditions.
Also, remember that most fires are started by human error. Keep these things in mind as we get closer to the weekend:
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