Red Flag Warning Issued for Northeast Lower Michigan
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on May 24, 2026, 3 months ago. Warnings of this kind stay in effect for hours to a few days, so this page is a historical record of what was issued, not a current warning. For conditions where you are right now, check weather.gov (US), weather.gc.ca (Canada), the Met Office (UK), or the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia).
Areazine synthesizes this NWS weather alert directly from NOAA's official public data feed. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
NWS Gaylord has issued a Red Flag Warning from 2 PM to 8 PM EDT today for critical fire weather conditions across 23 counties in northeast lower Michigan.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Red Flag Warning
- Affected area
- Northeast Lower Michigan
- Issued
- May 24, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Gaylord MI
Fire-weather notices describe conditions that can support rapid fire spread; they do not report that a fire is present. Check local emergency sources for any active incident.
Record status: historical. It was issued 3 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Northeast Lower Michigan.
Alert Details
A Red Flag Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service in Gaylord, MI. The alert is effective from 2:00 PM EDT to 8:00 PM EDT on May 16, 2026.
Affected Areas
The warning covers the following counties in northeast lower Michigan: Emmet, Cheboygan, Presque Isle, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Crawford, Oscoda, Alcona, Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Gladwin, Arenac, and Charlevoix.
What You Should Do
A Red Flag Warning means critical fire weather conditions are occurring or will shortly occur. Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly. Outdoor burning is not recommended.
Expected Conditions
Critically dry air will move in behind a frontal passage. Southwest winds will strengthen to 10 to 15 mph with frequent gusts of 20 to 25 mph, turning west in the afternoon. Skies will become clear with temperatures rising into the high 70s to low 80s. Afternoon humidity will drop to 18% to 25%. These conditions overlap with gusty winds from early afternoon through early evening, combining with low fuel moisture to produce high fire danger.
Timeline
The Red Flag Warning is in effect from 2:00 PM EDT until 8:00 PM EDT on May 16, 2026. The previous Fire Weather Watch is no longer in effect.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
Related Weather Alerts
All Weather Alerts →Nationwide notices with similar length or severity timing 8
Two Areazine-derived peer sets for this NWS weather alert: nearest notices by body length and by same severity near the same agency date. Peers come from other categories so they are not the same-feed Related list above.
Similar body length
Nearest notices by article body length (1,318 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to May 24, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.