Fire Weather Watch Issued For Wednesday Due To 'Dry' Thunderstorm Threat

DENVER (CBS4) - The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch for a large part of Colorado on Wednesday. It includes most all of the northern and central mountains as well as the adjacent foothills.

The concern is over the threat for what we call 'dry' thunderstorms. That means if any storms pop up they will mostly produce wind and lightning with very little rainfall because the air near the surface is so dry.

Wind gusts from dry thunderstorms can often exceed 40 mph and lightning can create new fire starts. Any storms near current fires could create dangerous and rapidly changing conditions for firefighters due to erratic wind gusts.