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Weather Service warns of fire danger in parts of Western Washington

The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a fire weather watch through today because of low humidity and stiff winds.

Published: Sept. 13, 2012 at 12:05 a.m. PDTUpdated: Sept. 13, 2012 at 7:00 a.m. PDT
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The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a fire weather watch through today because of low humidity and stiff winds.

A trough of low pressure is building and will drop the humidity to 15 percent to 20 percent, which will combine with an eastern wind of 10 to 15 miles per hour, forecasters said. That combination means unstable conditions that could lead to “rapid fire growth” because grass already is dry, the Weather Service said.

The 0.01 inch of rain that fell Sunday night was not enough to dampen the grass and shrubs. Other areas that received more rain were left out of the fire weather watch.

Affected areas include South and Central Puget Sound lowlands, the western slopes of the Central Cascades, the North Cascades, the Black Hills and southwest interior lowlands, and the eastern portion of the Olympics.

stacia.glenn@thenewstribune.com

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