From Oklahoma to Colorado, wildfires popped up very quickly Thursday afternoon within hot, windy and dry weather conditions.
https://www.facebook.com/WeatherNation/videos/10156422289784874/
Firefighters found it quite difficult to get a handle on these flareups due to the weather conditions. For one, very windy weather was blowing through Thursday afternoon with wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour at a number of reporting weather stations. Secondly, record heat was in place across parts of Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma where the air was not only hot, but very dry.
https://twitter.com/ounwcm/status/984546338162569219
Above picture: A closer look at western Oklahoma Thursday afternoon where red is the temperature, green is dew point temperature, and pink lines are the wind 'barbs.' Long story short: Hot, dry, and windy!
![](https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/04/cAPTURE6-1-728x408.jpg)
These observed high temperatures were well above average for Thursday, April 12 and in some cases record-breaking.
https://twitter.com/WeatherNation/status/984550584593166336
The wildfires in Oklahoma were clearly visible from space courtesy NOAA's GOES East weather satellite.
https://twitter.com/WeatherNation/status/984570952494149632
Windy, dry, and hot conditions will prevail along the southern Plains and Desert Southwest at least through Tuesday of next week. That will lead to a higher fire danger for several of those days. For now, we know the rest of Thursday and all of Friday will still feature 'extreme' fire weather conditions.
![](https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2018/04/Capture5-4-728x408.jpg)
Any fires that do flare up can spread very quickly and wildly given these weather conditions. Please report any smoke/wildfires to officials. Obey local burn bans. Use caution with your daily activities and chores to avoid sparking any wildfires.
https://twitter.com/NWSNorman/status/984430086370754560
For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Steve Glazier