Fire Weather Outlook Discussion
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
280 FNUS28 KWNS 122156 FWDD38 Day 3-8 Fire Weather Outlook NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 0354 PM CST Wed Nov 12 2025 Valid 141200Z - 201200Z ...Synopsis... A mid/upper low bringing widespread wetting rains to CA on Days 3-4/Friday-Saturday should progress northeastward into the Intermountain West into early next week, while a broader mid-level trough and surface cold front sweeps through much of the eastern U.S. over the weekend, largely mitigating fire weather impacts from the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast. Fire weather concerns should be concentrated across the central and southern Plains where passing mid/upper short waves and associated lee troughing introduce the potential for dry/breezy conditions amid receptive fuels. ...Day 3/Friday - Central/Southern High Plains... Model guidance consensus suggests a delay in the arrival of cut-off low into the Southwest through the weekend. The later arrival of stronger mid-level flow and surface pressure response along the High Plains lowers confidence for a more widespread fire weather threat across eastern NM and the TX Panhandle on Day 3/Friday. Thus, the northern extent of the existing 40 percent critical delineation was truncated owing to a reduced surface wind magnitude. Farther north, enhanced deep layer westerly flow rounding the base of a mid-upper trough over the Northern Rockies should aid stronger west winds across southeastern WY and the NE Panhandle, but forecast uncertainty in reaching sufficiently low relative humidity precludes introducing probabilities at this time. ...Day 4/Saturday - Southern High Plains... A slightly stronger surface pressure gradient ahead of a trough and associated cold front stretching from the Great Lakes to the southern High Plains should result in similar if not more expansive dry/breezy conditions across eastern NM/TX Panhandle on Day 4/Saturday, where 40 percent critical probabilities were introduced. ...Day 5-8/Sunday-Wednesday... Increased fire weather concerns reemerge across portions of the Southern Plains early next week as the mid-level cut-off low evolves into an open wave pattern as it moves into the Southern Plains. However, forecast timing and position of lee cyclogenesis and associated surface wind fields remains uncertain, which precludes introduction of critical probabilities for early next week. Another possible, deeper mid-level trough develops across the West midweek, but predictability in fire weather impacts across the Plains remains low. ..Williams.. 11/12/2025 ...Please see www.spc.noaa.gov/fire for graphic product... $$