Strong winds and low humidity will once again combine to create a very dangerous fire situation as we head into the weekend. A low pressure center dropping down off the coast of the Pacific Northwest will increase the pressure gradient and kick up some strong afternoon winds both Friday and Saturday. Blowing dust will likely be an issue, especially in the rural areas, and a Red Flag Warning has been posted for all of western Nevada Friday and will likely also be posted on Saturday. Temperatures will cool through the weekend from the upper 80s Friday down to the mid-to-upper 70s on Sunday, before warming steadily back into the 90s by the middle of next week.

Yesterday I talked about how Chaos Theory limits weather prediction. There’s an old saying that we meteorologists like to use: “If a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo, it can cause rain in New York (or Reno) a week later.” We generally use this after the *&%^$# little bug has screwed up our forecast. So how can an insignificant insect in Japan affect the weather halfway across the world? Well, no one has actually proved it can, but there is some logic behind the concept. More tomorrow.