AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: This blog is no longer being updated. Click here for the latest forecast.
Critical fire danger continues through this weekend for Central Texas. We have already dealt with a number of fires this week, including the Parmer Lane Fire in Cedar Park and a second fire near Decker Lake in Austin.
Both of those fires are now 100% contained, but windy weather will continue to create issues across Central Texas through the rest of the week.
A third fire popped up Friday afternoon in Caldwell County and has grown to 300 acres.
A Red Flag Warning is in effect from noon through 11 p.m. Sunday. This means critical fire danger is expected with the combination of worsening drought, scorching hot temperatures, low humidity and breezy winds.
Burn bans are currently in effect for all of our KVUE counties. Please avoid outdoor burning, and be very mindful of anything that could result in a spark.
Wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph will remain possible for Sunday. Should any additional fires develop, strong winds could make them much harder to contain.
Aside from the wind, we have no rain chances and high temperatures well into the triple digits each afternoon.
The Texas A&M Forrest Service expects "high" to "very high" fire danger for at least the next three days.
The worsening drought is certainly playing a major role in elevated our fire threat. The latest update from the Climate Prediction Center shows "extreme" to "exceptional" drought along and west of Interstate 35. There is also worsening drought east of I-35.
Unfortunately, the long-range outlook shows no significant chance for rain over the next seven to 10 days other than a very slim chance next Tuesday. As of now, it's only a 10-20% chance. We expect drought conditions will continue to worsen, and fire danger will continue.
The KVUE Weather Team will continue to closely monitor this developing forecast.
In the meantime, the extended forecast can be found below:
