A Fire Weather Watch will be in place Sunday amid gusty and dry conditions.
SAN ANTONIO — A combination of windy conditions and continuing drought will once again create a risk for fires in San Antonio and the surrounding region this weekend, amid a rollercoaster stretch of shifting weather conditions.
The National Weather Service (NWS) says a Fire Weather Watch is expected to be in place for much of South-Central Texas on Sunday, when gusts reaching 40 mph will be accompanied by humidity levels as low as 15%. A Fire Weather Watch means Sunday could feature the conditions for “critical fire weather,” though it’s less serious than a Red Flag Warning, which is issued when critical fire conditions are happening in real-time.
The most extreme fire danger, the NWS says, will be in parts of Gonzalez, Caldwell, Bastrop, Travis, Karnes, Live Oak, Atascosa, McMullen and Bee counties, as well as a stretch of the Gulf Coast reaching from San Patricio to Galveston. San Antonio faces a very high risk.
Officials are reminding the public of safety tips that will be paramount on Sunday, including:
- Make sure there’s a 10-foot radius around campfires and brush burning, and never leave fires unattended.
- Make sure all fires are properly and completely extinguished.
- Use grills and smokers on gravel or paved areas.
- Don’t toss lit cigarettes on the ground.
- Keep water stored near fires, grills, burning brush and fire pits just in cast.
- Don’t drive on dry grass or brush.
- Water lawns and keep your grass cut.
Much of Bexar and neighboring Medina counties remain in Extreme Drought – the second most-severe level of drought as classified by the U.S. Drought Monitor – with little improvement in our area over the last three months. Just 2.48 inches of rain has fallen in San Antonio since the start of September; 47% of that, or 1.16 inches, fell on one day: Sept. 7.
The Fire Weather Watch is expected to last from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday It’ll be preceded by warmer-than-normal Saturday conditions that could see San Antonio breaking a daily record of 90 degrees set back in 1989.
Then, on Sunday night, another change in the form of plummeting mercury. The NWS is warning those in the San Antonio and Hill Country regions that wind chills could make it feel like 33 degrees in San Antonio and in the 20s in communities north of the Alamo City.
A Freeze Warning isn’t out of the question. San Antonio has yet to drop before 32 degrees this fall. The chilling conditions return early Tuesday before morning lows bounce back into the 50s later in the week.