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Kansas City, Mo. – Friday, June 29, 2012 – NOAA forecasters said much of the country would have to contend with adverse weather conditions through the coming weekend. 

Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories will be in effect throughout the Plains, the Midwest, the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic. Critical fire weather conditions will continue for the central Great Basin and the Plains with several large wildfires burning in Colorado, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and New Mexico. Wetting rains in the past couple of days have provided some relief and have allowed firefighters to start getting some runaway fires more under control.

There is a possibility of severe weather today from South Dakota and Nebraska across the Midwest to the North-Atlantic states and the Washington, D.C., area.

National Climate Data Center officials expect to see more record high temperatures from the Rockies and western Plains to the Mid- and Southern-Atlantic. Forecasters at NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center said there will also be areas at Slight Risk Saturday and Sunday

See today’s Hazards Map at http://www.weather.gov/largemap.php and the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center threats map at http://origin.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/noaa/noaad1.gif.

Colorado remains as the focus of wildfires with four major fires at various stages of containment:

• Waldo Fire near Colorado Spring – 347 structures burned, 15 percent contained, estimate full containment July 16
• High Park Fire – 87,284 acres burned as of Thursday evening, 85 percent contained, full containment expected July 1
• Flagstaff Fire near Boulder – 300 acres burned, 40 percent contained, evacuees let back into homes Thursday, expect full containment June 30
• Pine Ridge Fire east of Grand Junction – the town of De Beque is under evacuation

Additional information on fire status and conditions may be attained from the web pages of NOAA’s National Weather Service offices in Colorado:  Pueblo (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pub), Denver/Boulder (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/bou) and Grand Junction (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/gjt).

Red Flag Warnings continue today for parts of Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.

As the record-setting heat wave expands, National Weather Service offices across the country are encouraging residents to follow guidance from NOAA’s Heat Safety web page to keep themselves, family and friends safe from the heat. Go to http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/heat/index.shtml. The information is also available from the web in Spanish.

Heat Advisories and Excessive Heat Warnings are in effect in many areas and record high temperatures are expected to continue through the weekend. The excessive heat also continues to cause air quality issues in various locations. One of the worst areas is the lower end of Lake Michigan from the Wisconsin-Illinois state line to Montague, Mich.

 Excessive Heat Warnings cover the eastern half of Kansas, the western fourth of Missouri and parts of southwest Missouri, southern Illinois, southwest Indiana and western Kentucky. Heat Advisories cover parts of 16 states, including:  Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. An Excessive Heat Watch is in effect today for most of the Atlantic Coast.

For Thursday, the National Climate Data Center received reports of 20 high temperature records for the day that topped 110 degrees. 18 of those sites were in Kansas, with the warmest reading of 118 degrees recorded at Norton Dam. The old record for the day was 104 degrees set in 1963. (See related table of Thursday’s preliminary record high temperature reports.)

Storm Prediction Center severe weather outlooks through Sunday include:

Today – Slight Chance in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C. See graphic at http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk_1300.gif.

Saturday – Three areas at Slight Risk in the Plains and from the Midwest to Washington, D.C., and the Mid-Atlantic Coast, including:  Eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota; southeastern South Dakota, Western Nebraska and the Panhandle, northeast Colorado and northwest Kansas; Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. See graphic at http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html.

There is an area at Slight Risk Sunday in extreme northwest North Dakota and the eastern half of Montana.

Precipitation forecasts for the next five days are available from NOAA’s Hydro-Meteorological Prediction Center at http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/qpf2.shtml.

NOAA’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service showed 19 locations under flood conditions in the country this morning. Seven river gauge sites were at Major Flood level, three were at Moderate Flood and 9 were at Minor Flood; 27 sites were Near Flood. See the latest flood graphic on the web at http://water.weather.gov/ahps.

Local National Weather Service office web pages are available at http://weather.gov; select the desired location. All segments of the U.S. weather and flood forecasts and outlooks are available through the NOAAWatch briefing page at http://www.noaawatch.gov/briefing.php.

Contact:  Public Affairs Specialist Patrick Slattery (816) 268-3135