Friday's lightning strikes sparked at least one new wildfire, the cause of the second is currently unknown but likely was lightning as well. There have been two new wildfires so far with more dangerous fire weather conditions for the start of the weekend. A fire southwest of Lincoln had firefighters working from the ground and the air. A larger fire in northern Fergus County near the Judith River had extensive growth and a smoke plume that was more than 100 miles. Saturday's weather will create dangerous wildfire growth conditions again with wind and low humidity across the state. High pressure on Sunday will bring in cooler air and lighter wind. Temperatures will climb back into the 80s to around 90 next week. Afternoon wind will increase up to 15-20mph. It will be typical August weather, however there does not appear to be any extreme heat or wind events that would cause the fire danger to skyrocket. That being said, it's getting into the middle of August and typically the state dries out as wildfires naturally occur. Please be careful to not be the cause of a new wildfire.
Have a great weekend and be safe.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
Posted at 7:23 PM, Aug 07, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-07 21:23:59-04
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