Red Flag Warning Issued for Parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 6, 2026, 4 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).
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The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for Wednesday due to strong winds and low humidity, creating critical fire weather conditions across the region.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Red Flag Warning
- Affected area
- Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota
- Issued
- April 6, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Sioux Falls SD
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 4 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Alert Details
The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls has issued a Red Flag Warning for wind and low relative humidity. This alert replaces the previous Fire Weather Watch for the region.
Affected Areas
The warning covers a broad geographic area across four states, specifically targeting areas along and south of Interstate-90:
- Iowa: Lyon, Osceola, Dickinson, Sioux, O'Brien, Clay, Plymouth, Cherokee, Buena Vista, Woodbury, and Ida counties.
- Minnesota: Nobles, Jackson, and Rock counties.
- Nebraska: Dixon and Dakota counties.
- South Dakota: Gregory, Brule, Aurora, Davison, Hanson, McCook, Minnehaha, Charles Mix, Douglas, Hutchinson, Turner, Lincoln, Bon Homme, Yankton, Clay, and Union counties.
What You Should Do
Residents in the affected areas are strongly advised that outdoor burning is not recommended. A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly. The combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly.
Expected Conditions
- Winds: West winds ranging from 25 to 35 mph, with gusts reaching as high as 50 mph.
- Relative Humidity: Levels are expected to drop as low as 15 percent.
- Impacts: Critical fire weather conditions will make any fire difficult to control.
Timeline
The Red Flag Warning is effective from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM CST on Wednesday, February 18. The alert was originally issued at 10:06 PM CST on February 17.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
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