Red Flag Warning Issued for Sandhills and North Central Nebraska: Particularly Dangerous Situation
This alert is no longer in effect.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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A Red Flag Warning is in effect for parts of Nebraska today, with the National Weather Service warning of a particularly dangerous situation involving extreme fire behavior.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Red Flag Warning
- Affected area
- Central and North Central Nebraska
- Issued
- April 6, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS North Platte NE
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 Central and North Central Nebraska.
Alert Details
The National Weather Service in North Platte, NE, has issued a Red Flag Warning for central and north central Nebraska. This alert has been designated as a "particularly dangerous situation" due to the high potential for extreme fire behavior.
Affected Areas
The warning covers the following regions and fire weather zones:
- Fire Weather Zone 206: Sandhills, Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, and Nebraska National Forest.
- Fire Weather Zone 208: Niobrara Valley, Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, and Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest.
- Fire Weather Zone 209: Loup Rivers Basin.
What You Should Do
Residents in the affected areas are urged to prepare for critical fire weather conditions. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. Any fire starts will have a high potential to spread rapidly and will be difficult to control.
Expected Conditions
- Winds: West winds between 20 to 30 mph are expected, with gusts reaching 35 to 45 mph. The highest gusts are anticipated in Fire Weather Zone 206.
- Relative Humidity: Levels are expected to drop as low as 13 percent.
- Temperatures: Highs will range from 68 to 75 degrees.
- Lightning: No lightning is expected during this event.
Timeline
The Red Flag Warning is effective from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM CST (11:00 AM to 7:00 PM MST) today, February 17, 2026.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
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