Dry cold front to cause red flag warning for Eastern Washington Wednesday

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Spokane and the surrounding areas of Eastern Washington for Wednesday.

The fire weather warning will be in effect from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. as a dry cold front moves through the area from the foothills of the central Washington Cascades, creating westerly winds from 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph, the warning said.

Strong winds coupled with low humidity and high temperatures, including the mid -90s on Tuesday, contribute to large-scale fire conditions, a Spokane County news release said.

The county recommends registering for emergency alerts at its webpage Alert Spokane, preparing a go bag with important documents and medication, and knowing several evacuation routes.

The county issues three designations of evacuation levels. Level 1, get ready, advises residents to prepare to leave if conditions worsen. Level 2, get set, advises to prepare to leave quickly. Families with vulnerable people, such as children or the elderly, who may require more time to evacuate should leave when the warning is released, instead of waiting until a Level 3. Level 3, go, means to leave immediately as fire conditions threaten safety and emergency responders may be unable to help.

The dry cold front from the Gulf of Alaska will first sweep through the Cascades, prompting red flag conditions to start in central Washington on Tuesday, said Steve Bodner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

On Tuesday night, the front will push into Eastern Washington, creating strong winds while the region experiences warm, dry temperatures. Wednesday’s humidity will be between 12 and 20%, the warning said.

Tuesday will mark the hottest day of the year for Spokane so far if downtown temperatures reach 97 degrees as forecast. The transition of air mass, from cold to warm, causes strong winds, Bodner said.

Temperatures will drop to the high 80s for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as a result of the dry cold front, he said.

Avista is not expecting any outages ahead of the warning, spokesman David Vowels said. Power lines that have been disturbed won’t automatically re-energize as the company attempts to reduce ignition risks. When not in fire safety mode, lines will attempt to re-energize after a disruption. This means outages during fire safety mode will be longer as repairs must be made manually, he said.

Power fluctuations during the holiday weekend damaged a well in Cheney. The city enacted emergency water restrictions, asking businesses and residences to cease irrigation, to maintain adequate water levels to be used in the case of emergencies, said Ed Meece, Cheney city administrator.

The city took into consideration the red flag warning and decided the emergency water restrictions were best to keep the city prepared for fire hazards, he said.