Extremely High Brush Fire Danger Expected On Both Friday & Saturday Across Western & Central Mass

For Tonight: Partly cloudy skies are expected tonight across the entire area. Low temperatures will be near 25 Degrees. Winds will be North to Northwest at 5 to 10 mph.

I wanted to mention that the relative humidity values are expected to be fairly low for an overnight period with readings of 40 to 45 percent. These low humidity values and the continued extremely dry ground conditions means that the brush fire danger will be very high throughout tonight, which is something we are definitely not used to here in Southern New England.

Friday: Extremely high brush fire danger is expected throughout the day on Friday due to lots of sunshine, gusty Northwest winds, extremely low humidity values of around 25 percent and extremely dry ground conditions.

High temperatures on Friday will be near 55 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.

Because of this, I AM BEGGING & PLEADING with you to NOT do any of these activities that would potentially lead to a fast moving and fast spreading brush fire:

- Burning of brush piles.

- Having any sort of a campfire.

- Starting a fire in your fire pit.

- Using a charcoal grill.

- Using power tools of any sort in high grass or in dry leaves.

- Parking or idling your vehicle in tall grass or on dry leaves.

- Improperly discarding cigarettes.

- Dumping ash in leaves or in high grass.

Local fire departments continue to work their butts off responding to numerous brush fires and illegal burns and unfortunately, I expect them to have a very busy day tomorrow. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not add to their workload by accidentally starting a brush fire. I PLEAD & BEG you - DO NOT do any sort of burning!!

Saturday: I expect that the brush fire danger on Saturday will be extremely high once again due to a combination of lots of sunshine, gusty West to Northwest winds, low humidity values of around 30 percent and extremely dry ground conditions.

High temperatures on Saturday will be near 55 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.

Sunday: The winds are expected to diminish some on Sunday, which will lessen the brush fire danger a little bit. That said, I still anticipate very high brush fire danger throughout Sunday.

Sunday looks sunny with high temperatures between 55 and 60 Degrees.

Next Week’s Weather Outlook: Appreciable amounts of rainfall will continue to be hard to come by during at least the first half of next week leading to the continuation of very high to extreme brush fire danger.

Monday looks cloudy with high temperatures near 55 Degrees.

Tuesday looks sunny with high temperatures between 50 and 55 Degrees.

Wednesday also looks sunny with high temperatures between 50 and 55 Degrees.

Beyond this, the weather forecast guidance are showing hints that a storm system and its associated frontal system might actually bring us rain on Thursday into next Friday. That said, we’ve seen this before with guidance giving us hope for rain only to evaporate when the time comes. This means I don’t quite believe this will occur, just yet. I’d like to see some consistency in the guidance before I start jumping up and down in joy for any incoming rain. Call me skeptically hopeful for rain Thursday into Friday of next week. It’s something that I’ll be watching closely and will have updates as needed.

Showers Tonight Will Do Little To Ease The Brush Fire Danger Or The Ongoing Drought Across Western & Central Mass

It looks like the appropriate song for Tonight will be, "I Love A Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbit.

A frontal system now pushing through New York State is expected to move across our area throughout the overnight hours of tonight bringing with it widespread showers.

Showers now entering far Western Mass will overspread the entire area over the next couple of hours so that by 8-9 pm it'll be raining everywhere across Western and Central Mass.

Widespread showers will then last throughout the overnight hours of tonight before coming to an end around sunrise Monday morning.

While the rain tonight will be very much welcomed, it will not be nearly enough to put a dent in our brush fire danger or our drought conditions.

Up to one quarter of an inch (0.25") can be expected across much of the area tonight and again this will put very little in the way of a dent in our brush fire danger and our drought conditions.

Monday looks like we'll see a mixture of sunshine and clouds with high temperatures between 60 and 65 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.

Tuesday looks to be a day that could have EXTREME brush fire danger once again. Lots of sunshine, windy conditions and very low humidity values will lead to an EXTREME fire danger. High temperatures will be between 45 and 50 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph.

Dry weather then looks likely throughout the rest of this coming week with daytime high temperatures in the low to mid 40s and nighttime low temperatures in the 20s.

Another Day Of Extremely High Fire Danger Expected On Friday Across Western & Central Mass

Extremely High Fire Danger Expected On Friday & Saturday: To paraphrase a certain bear, “Only you can prevent brush & forest fires” or as my wife has said, “Don’t be stupid by doing any sort of burning”. I don’t really know how else to get the message about not doing any sort of burning out. Local fire departments have pleaded on Social Media and in the news media to not do any sort of burning, but yet there are still multiple reports of illegal burns each and every day.

Think of it this way, one brush fire that gets out of control could burn down your home, it could burn down your neighbor’s home, it could even burn down your neighborhood. I know we are in nearly uncharted territory with how long the extreme fire danger has lasted and this is something we are not used to here in Western and Central Mass. Conflagrations are extremely rare in New England, but they have happened before.

One I can think of off of the top of my head is October of 1947 when southern, central and downeast Maine burned. The towns of Shapleigh, Waterboro, Alfred, Lyman, Newfield, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Biddeford and Saco were devastated by the fires. In addition, Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park and the town of Bar Harbor was virtually destroyed by the October fires. LINK - https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/maine-fires-1947-year-state-burned/ .

Believe me, believe your local fire department when we say don’t do any sort of burning.

Just today, there was a small grass fire caused by a lawnmower here in Sturbridge and there was a 7-plus acre brush fire on the Springfield-Chicopee line right off of the Mass Pike (right at the I-291 exit).

I know all of this probably sounds like the Charlie Brown teacher to some of you & I know some of you don’t like being told what to do, but I’m being extremely serious when I say that conditions out there are extraordinarily dry and it is a tinder box out there.

EXTREME Fire Danger is once again expected on Friday and in fact, the danger of brush fires looks very high to extreme once again on Saturday too.

Because of this, I AM BEGGING & PLEADING with you to NOT do any of these activities that would potentially lead to a fast moving and fast spreading brush fire (or as my wife has said, don’t be stupid by doing any of these things – I’m much more diplomatic in my wording):

- Burning of brush piles.

- Having any sort of a campfire.

- Starting a fire in your fire pit.

- Using power tools of any sort in high grass or in dry leaves.

- Idling your vehicle in tall grass or on dry leaves.

- Improperly discarding cigarettes.

- Dumping ash in leaves or in high grass.

As I already mentioned, local fire departments continue to work their butts off responding to numerous brush fires and illegal burns and unfortunately, I expect them to have a very busy day tomorrow and also on Saturday. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not add to their workload by accidentally starting a brush fire. I PLEAD & BEG you - DO NOT be stupid and do any sort of burning!!