Improving Consistency of National Weather Service Fire Weather Products in the Plains and Midwest

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) have generally issued Fire Weather Watches and Red Flag Warnings based on a combination of low relative humidity and gusty winds, or based on adjective ratings generated by the Grassland Fire Danger Index and Rangeland Fire Danger Index. These methods vary locally and have occasionally resulted in inconsistencies across WFO County Warning Areas, causing confusion on the part of fire weather partner agencies. To help address this issue and improve consistency, National Weather Service Central Region Headquarters chartered a working group to investigate possible solutions to enhance coordination and collaboration between WFOs. Of particular interest was the potential use of the Red Flag Threat Index, which has been successful across the Southern Plains. This presentation will address the outcome of this work over the past few years and potential future steps to ensure a more seamless issuance of fire weather highlights.