Elevated fire weather conditions across southern Minnesota, northern Iowa Wednesday

(ABC 6 News) – Elevated fire weather conditions will be present across southern Minnesota and northern Iowa through Wednesday.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in the Twin Cities says the combination of southerly winds gusting to 40-45 mph along with low relative humidity values will result in the elevated fire threat. Also, the lack of recent precipitation has left vegetation dried out which can act as fuel for fires.

NWS says any fires that start will have the potential to spread quickly and may be difficult to control.

The Minnesota DNR has all of southern Minnesota in a “very high” risk for fires with several counties under burning restrictions including no open burning allowed. To view the DNR’s map of fire danger and burning restrictions, CLICK HERE.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service in Des Moines, IA says the threat of grassland fires is “high” to “very high” across much of the state, according to the Grassland Fire Danger Index (GFDI).

To view which Iowa counties are under burn restrictions, CLICK HERE.