MILWAUKEE — The National Weather Service issued another Red Flag Warning Thursday as two-thirds of the state is considered to be in extreme fire danger.
Warm, dry, and windy conditions are the three primary factors that trigger the alert.
Storm Team 4 Meteorologist Brendan Johnson said red flag warnings are fairly uncommon in Wisconsin.
"I know a lot of folks are like, 'red flag? There's no word in there that makes that easy to understand’. It's for fire. It's a high fire danger is essentially what it is,” he said.
Prior to Wednesday’s warning, the last time Milwaukee County was under a Red Flag Warning was more than a decade ago in the spring of 2012.
“Why are red flag warnings considered to be rare here?” TMJ4 Reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"It's a high bar,” Johnson replied. "It's got to be very dry outside, it's got to be very warm outside and it's also got to be windy."
Prior to back-to-back warnings this week, Johnson says the two prior Red Flag Warnings also came in the spring during a dry stretch after the snow melted.
"Throw in some warm air, you've got an environment that number one could allow a wildfire to start and number two, a wildfire to spread,” he said.
When it comes to warm air, an organization called Climate Central found average temperatures from March to May in Wisconsin are two degrees warmer than they were in 1970.
A National Weather Service study shows Milwaukee’s average temperature has climbed 1.4 degrees in the last three decades.
Alex Bukvich leads UW-Milwaukee’s Innovative Weather Center. It’s a program where students studying to be meteorologists witnessed a record-breaking high-temperature Thursday in Milwaukee.
“Is 1.4 degrees warmer here in Milwaukee concerning considering it’s over just 30 years?” Jordan asked.
"I would mark that as significant, yes,” Bukvich said.
While Bukvich says there’s no question the world is warming up, he tells TMJ4 News that recent Red Flag Warnings shouldn’t be correlated with climate change. At least for now.
"This Red Flag Warning, this heat wave we can't correlate with climate change, but if you see them persistently over the course of a decade and see them impacting climate norms then that's where you start to blend from the weather to the climate and seeing those impacts,” he said.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
