Lack
of rain, dry air, high temps and southwesterly breezes pose a hazard
By
Will Collette
The
National Weather Service has put out a special warning for most of southern New
England, including all of South County, about the high risk of fire.
As
a common sense measure, you should not ignite any open fires today. And for
those idiots with no common sense, using near commercial grade fireworks in
these types of conditions is a really bad idea.
We
need rain not just for our gardens but for health and safety in our wooded
areas.
Here
is the NWS statement:
Special Weather
Statement
National Weather Service
Boston/Norton MA
955 AM EDT Thu Jun 25
2020
Southeast Providence
RI-Western Kent RI-Eastern Kent RI-Bristol RI-Washington
RI-Newport RI-Block Island RI-Including the cities of
Charlemont, Greenfield, Orange, Barre, Fitchburg, Framingham,
Lowell, Lawrence, Gloucester, Chesterfield, Blandford,
Amherst, Northampton, Springfield, Milford, Worcester,
Foxborough, Norwood, Cambridge, Boston, Quincy, Taunton,
Brockton, Plymouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Mattapoisett, Chatham,
Falmouth, Provincetown, Vineyard Haven, Nantucket, Ayer, Foster,
Smithfield, Providence, Coventry, West Greenwich, East
Greenwich, Warwick, West Warwick, Bristol, Narragansett, Westerly,
Newport, and New Shoreham
955 AM EDT Thu Jun 25 2020
...Elevated Risk for
Fire Spread Potential This Afternoon...
Massachusetts and Rhode
Island fire weather officials have advised of an elevated risk for fire pread
for this afternoon.
Officials are mainly
concerned with southwest winds gusting to 20 mph and already-dry surface fuels,
including grasses.
High temperatures this
afternoon will reach the 80s in most places. Minimum relative humidity this
afternoon will be 30 to 40 percent, except 45 to 55 percent along the coast.