‘Extreme’ fire danger, winds, dust across Borderland
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for much of the El Paso region, far West Texas and southern New Mexico for Monday through 8 p.m. This means these areas could face "extreme fire danger."
According to the NWS a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.
"If you get any fires that start they're gonna take off quickly with the combination of winds and a low relative humidity similar to what they've experienced out in California with the Santa Ana winds and those devastating winds and those devastating fired that hit the Los Angeles area," said Jason Gryzwacz, an Observation Program Leader with the El Paso NWS.
He say drive with caution because visibility could drop to zero.
"You don't know when all of a sudden visibility could look pretty good. Then also, you know, in this area, there's so much loose dirt. It's been so dry, you could just all of a sudden hit maybe a quarter mile stretch of road, but you can't see anything, and you don't know if there's somebody right in front of you as well," says Gryzwacz.
A "high wind warning" that includes damaging winds and dust storms, will also be in place from noon to 8 p.m. Monday for El Paso, Las Cruces the Tularosa Basin, and the Sacramento Mountains.
The NWS says there could be hazardous driving conditions due to reduced visibility.
Here in the borderland we're already seeing the impact of this. I-10 West at exit 132 is closed and all traffic is being diverted back to Las cruces due to high winds and low visibility.
We are currently under an ABC-7 First Alert for the wind and dust.
