'Red flag' warning to return Tuesday

The windy, super-dry conditions responsible for the rapid spread of a wildfire in Suffolk County Monday improved overnight, and winds were relatively calm as daybreak neared Tuesday.

The National Weather Service in Upton, however, said a "red flag" warning for outdoor fires, which expired at 8 p.m. Monday night, is back in effect from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. The relative humidity will be as low as 25 percent and west winds blowing 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph are predicted, with the strongest winds expected this afternoon. This means the fire risk is elevated because of dry conditions.

There is a slight chance of showers after noon, forecasters said.

Forecasters were not surprised by the fires in Suffolk and elsewhere in the metro region Monday.

"The conditions all winter long have been very dry, less than one-third of the normal rainfall this year," News 12 Long Island meteorologist Bill Korbel said Monday night, adding there had been just a half-inch of rain in the "past six weeks or so."

"That set the stage. Added to that," he said, was "very strong winds, gusting up to 40 mph. And the air is extraordinarily dry. Relative humidity was 15 percent, more like you'd find in the Southwest. It would be 40 percent here on a normal spring day," he said.

The drought allowed brush "to dry up and be more flammable. Strong winds spread it, just pick up and blow embers and start other fires."