The wildfires in Bay and surrounding counties have caused smoky conditions which, combined with gusty winds and high humidity is causing hazardous conditions for motorists.
Bottom Line:
- While humidity will be higher, gusty winds and dry fuels along with ongoing fires will continue to promote increased fire danger on Saturday.
- Smoke and fog may quickly reduce visibility in spots, resulting in potentially hazardous travel tonight and Saturday night.
Overview:
While relative humidity Saturday afternoon will be slightly higher across the area, the recent dry conditions, ongoing fires, and gusty winds will keep fire concerns elevated through Saturday.
Minimum relative humidity values of 30-50% are expected Saturday afternoon area-wide, with the lowest values away from the coast.
Winds will be light out of the east Saturday morning but will increase out of the southeast to 10-15 mph with gusts of 20-25 mph possible by the afternoon.
This increase in winds will counteract the higher humidity levels and maintain an elevated fire danger.
Additionally, winds will become light to calm overnight tonight and Saturday night.
This will allow the smoke from wildfires to settle near the ground. This could cause quick reductions in visibility in isolated spots.
There is also the potential for patchy fog tonight across southern Georgia and the eastern FL Big Bend tonight and across our entire area Saturday night.
Where smoke mixes with fog, visibilities could quickly drop to near zero, resulting in hazardous travel conditions.
