Red Flag Warning Issued for West Central and Southwest Florida
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 28, 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.
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for multiple counties in West Central and Southwest Florida due to critically low humidity and gusty winds, effective from 11 AM to 8 PM EDT on April 21, 2026.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Red Flag Warning
- Affected area
- West Central and Southwest Florida
- Issued
- April 28, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS National Office
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 West Central and Southwest Florida.
Red Flag Warning in West Central and Southwest Florida
Alert Details
The National Weather Service in Tampa Bay Ruskin has issued a Red Flag Warning, effective from 11 AM to 8 PM EDT on April 21, 2026.
Affected Areas
The warning affects Sumter; Pinellas; Polk; Hardee; Highlands; DeSoto; Coastal Hernando; Coastal Pasco; Coastal Hillsborough; Coastal Manatee; Coastal Sarasota; Coastal Charlotte; Coastal Lee; Inland Hernando; Inland Pasco; Inland Hillsborough; Inland Manatee; Inland Sarasota; Inland Charlotte; and Inland Lee in Florida.
What You Should Do
Prepare for critical fire weather conditions. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and dry fuels can contribute to extreme fire behavior, and outdoor burning is not recommended as any fire that develops will spread quickly.
Expected Conditions
East winds of 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and relative humidity as low as 31 percent will result in an elevated fire danger.
Timeline
The alert is effective from 11 AM EDT to 8 PM EDT on April 21, 2026.
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 (1,052 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to April 28, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.