Red Flag Warning in effect for Lake Tahoe in addition to Fire Weather Warning

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a Red Flag Warning for the Lake Tahoe Basin from 1:00 p.m. Thursday, September 17 to 11:00 p.m. Friday. Earlier this week they issued a Fire Weather Watch for the region but that has now been upgraded to a Fire Weather Warning. There is also a Lake Wind Advisory in place and the Dense Smoke Warning expires Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m.

When there is a Red Flag Warning ALL fires are banned in Lake Tahoe Basin including gas and propane grills. All wood and charcoal fires have been banned for the season, until further notice. If your activity involves a match or other source of flame, don't even think about it.

There will be southwest winds Thursday afternoon shifting to west on Friday. Sustained winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph possible both days. Ridge winds up to 60 mph expected during the afternoon hours each day. Winds in valleys should weaken late Thursday evening, while ridges continue to gust to around 70 mph overnight into Friday morning.

A Lake Wind Advisory is in place Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph expected with waves 1 to 3 feet on Lake Tahoe. Small boats, kayaks and paddle boards will be prone to capsizing and should remain off lake waters until conditions improve. Hazardous driving conditions due to low visibility.

Humidity will be 10 to 20 percent Thursday afternoon with moderate recoveries overnight Thursday. Expect those levels to be 15 to 30 percent Friday afternoon.

There will be four to nine hours of critical conditions each afternoon. Critical conditions will occur through the entirety of the warned period for ridges.

The combination of gusty winds and low humidity can cause fire to rapidly grow in size and intensity before first responders can contain them.