The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for extreme fire danger in Lancaster County from Friday afternoon, Feb. 28, through the evening.
Gusty winds, high temperatures in the mid 60s, and dry relative humidity will be the perfect combination for extreme fire conditions — covering all of eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa.
Lincoln wont get the worst of the wind; the strongest gusts will focus in northeast Nebraska and could be as high as 50 miles per hour.
“Even though we’ve had some snowfall last week, the ground has dried out pretty quickly. Dry grass remains and field stubble still out there is very dry and very susceptible to burning very quickly,” said National Weather Service-Omaha Meteorologist Van DeWald.
He stresses residents to carefully discard cigarettes and avoid any outdoor burning including fire pits and outdoor grilling.
Warm weather has led to ice breakup and movement along the Platte, Elkhorn, and Loup Rivers. Further breakup is expected in the coming days increasing the potential for ice jams and flooding around that area. An ice jam along the Loup River near Columbus has led to flooding near Highway 30. A Flood Watch is in effect for the Platte, Elkhorn, and Loup rivers through Saturday evening.