Fire warning as windy, winter-like temps fall on South Jersey
The cold shock when South Jersey residents wake up Sunday morning may come as a painful reminder that winter is less than a month away. But the high winds and very dry air, coupled with plenty of dry leaf litter and branches has lead the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Sunday.
A red flag warning indicates conditions are ripe for explosive wildfire development and authorities warn that any fires that develop could quickly burn out of control.
Sunday also will be the coldest day of the season, with high temperatures struggling to reach the mid 30s, the weather service said. Wind chills could be in the teens to low 20s at times.
This dry cold will come two days before what could be a potent northeaster is expected to develop late Tuesday and into Wednesday, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and potentially moderate coastal flooding.
The storm, which forecasters have grown increasingly confident about developing, will affect the region on the busiest travel day of the year and could bring snow or frozen precipitation to parts of New Jersey, the weather service said.
However, the weather service will not begin forecasting how much snow could fall until late Sunday at the earliest, forecasters wrote in a weather briefing released late Saturday.
