Red Flag Warning

The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a Red Flag Warning for thunderstorms and strong outflow winds, which is in effect from 1 PM to 10 PM PDT Thursday.

* Affected Area...Fire Weather Zone 420 Northern Sierra Front including Carson City, Douglas, Storey, Southern Washoe, Western Lyon, and Far Southern Lassen Counties, Fire Weather Zone 421 Southern Sierra Front including Alpine, Northern Mono, Southern Lyon, and Western Mineral Counties.

* Thunderstorms...A mix of wet and dry thunderstorms Thursday afternoon. There is some uncertainty in thunderstorm coverage, but isolated dry lightning will be possible.

* Outflow Winds...Gusty and erratic thunderstorm outflow winds, even well away from rain cores. Gusts to around 50 mph possible.

* Impacts...Lightning can create new fire starts and may combine with strong outflow winds to cause a fire to rapidly grow in size and intensity before first responders can contain them.