Red Flag Warning Issued for Sandhills and North Central Nebraska: Particularly Dangerous Situation

Alert Details

The National Weather Service in North Platte, NE, has issued a Red Flag Warning for central and north central Nebraska. This alert has been designated as a “particularly dangerous situation” due to the high potential for extreme fire behavior.

Affected Areas

The warning covers the following regions and fire weather zones:

• Fire Weather Zone 206: Sandhills, Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, and Nebraska National Forest.
• Fire Weather Zone 208: Niobrara Valley, Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, and Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest.
• Fire Weather Zone 209: Loup Rivers Basin.

What You Should Do

Residents in the affected areas are urged to prepare for critical fire weather conditions. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. Any fire starts will have a high potential to spread rapidly and will be difficult to control.

Expected Conditions

• Winds: West winds between 20 to 30 mph are expected, with gusts reaching 35 to 45 mph. The highest gusts are anticipated in Fire Weather Zone 206.
• Relative Humidity: Levels are expected to drop as low as 13 percent.
• Temperatures: Highs will range from 68 to 75 degrees.
• Lightning: No lightning is expected during this event.

Timeline

The Red Flag Warning is effective from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM CST (11:00 AM to 7:00 PM MST) today, February 17, 2026.