As the chance for rain dwindles into the middle of the week, fire danger returns. The conditions will be enhanced by our position west of Hurricane Idalia.

A ***RED FLAG WARNING*** is in effect from 10am to 8pm Wednesday across all of southwest Mississippi and southeast Louisiana except the immediate coast. North winds of 10-15mph with low humidity will allow new or ongoing fires to spread rapidly. 

Burn bans remain in effect for all of southeastern Louisiana and southwestern and coastal Mississippi with no exemptions. Any burning is strictly prohibited. To help prevent ignition or spread of fire, do not park vehicles on dry grass. Ensure any trailer chains do not drag on pavement creating sparks. Fully extinguish all cigarettes before disposing in a proper container. And report any observed fires to 911 immediately.

Today & Tonight: Wednesday will have mostly sunny skies and feel comfortably warm. High temperatures will make it into the low to mid 90s. Dew point temperatures will scale back into the 60s and 50s which feels much drier compared to more humid air so far this week. However, those lower dew points will also result in lower relative humidity. Add in a north breeze of 10-15mph on the northwest side of Hurricane Idalia, and critical fire weather is the result. Overnight, mostly clear skies and light, north breezes will prevail. Low temperatures will drop off into the low 70s.

Up Next: Similar conditions are expected on Thursday. By Friday, moisture will slowly tick up again. With a weak upper level disturbance scooting across the region, afternoon showers and thunderstorms will be possible, especially on Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will remain a bit above average with highs in the mid 90s and lows in the mid 70s.  The atmosphere will trend drier again next week and rain chances will go down again. The above average temperatures are expected to continue through most of next week. Additional 100s are even possible.

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The Tropics: Hurricane Idalia will be coming ashore across the Big Bend region of Florida on Wednesday morning. Idalia is expected to produce storm surge of 10-15 feet near and east of the landfall site, with hurricane force winds across much of north, central Florida and rainfall of 5-10 inches for the Florida Panhandle, southeast Georgia and eastern Carolinas.

Hurricane Franklin is a powerful storm in the western Atlantic. While it will produce dangerous rip currents along the United States East Coast and tropical storm conditions in Bermuda, a direct hit to land is not expected. Franklin will accelerate northwest of Bermuda and then northeast and out to sea later this week.

Tropical Depression Eleven is drifting northwest over the open, central Atlantic Ocean with maximum winds of 35mph. This system could briefly become a tropical storm before moving north into cooler waters later this week. 

--Keller

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