The latest on the rapidly growing Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas: Live updates

The continuing wildfires have been largely pushed by excessive winds and dry air. And excessive wind warnings and red flag warnings stay in impact within the area till 8 p.m. native time.

“The Texas A&M Forest Service experiences that a number of giant wildfires ignited yesterday below heat, dry, and windy situations throughout the Texas Panhandle,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott mentioned in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “Sturdy forecasted winds will doubtless influence these wildfires, inflicting them to develop bigger. There’s a risk for wildfire exercise to happen the place an considerable quantity of dormant grasses are current on the panorama in areas close to and round them, together with the Panhandle, South Plains, Texoma, and Permian Basin areas.”

Components of East Texas are additionally below elevated wildfire danger, he mentioned.

Now, there’s a mixture of good and dangerous information developing.

A chilly entrance that is pushing via the realm Tuesday night will carry cooler air and shift winds. Whereas winds might develop weaker, they could additionally assist unfold the flames in a unique route — they’ve to date been spreading eastward, and the wind change might assist lead them southward.

“A chilly entrance is dashing down from the north and for firefighters, this can be a harmful recreation as a result of the wind has been out of the west all day, now the wind is out of the north,” CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers mentioned Tuesday. “The firefighters, the personnel, they’ve to remain out of the best way of that wind shift.”

However the cool air additionally brings excellent news: the chilly air mass pushing into the area has a a lot larger relative humidity than the dry air that has been feeding the fires Tuesday, which goes to restrict the fireplace danger because the night time into Wednesday will get colder.

That fireside-weather menace will likely be a lot decrease Wednesday, and although some gusty winds and patches of air might mix to trigger considerations in southern Texas as properly, the menace is anticipated to be temporary and never widespread.