Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches have been issued for areas in Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and South Dakota on Saturday.

Interestingly, after our discussion on March 12 about the two different versions of NWS Red Flag Warning maps, and how the one at the site illustrated above did not show Red Flag areas that went into effect later in the same day, today’s map, above, shows an area in North Dakota as Red Flag even though it does not go into effect for another three hours, at 1 p.m. CDT today. Which is what they should do. The forecasters should not expect land managers and firefighters to have to visit their site every hour or two to determine if they are under a Red Flag Warning. You should be able to visit the site just once a day to see the warning areas.

The map was current as of 9 a.m. MDT on Saturday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts. For the most current data visit this NWS site or this NWS site.