The winds are expected to be strongest and the fire risk highest in an area extending from north Texas across central Oklahoma into southeast Kansas and including a smidgen of Missouri. Wind speeds could top 90 miles per hour in the most extreme cases.

Climate researchers said the ingredients are in place for a wildfire threat North Texas hasn't seen in at least 10 years. One Fort Worth neighborhood remembers the threat of fire well. It had to be evacuated during the 2023 fire.

An elevated fire threat remains in place for Thursday, with that breeze and with very low relative humidity. That elevated fire threat turns critical on Friday as a low-pressure system moves through the Central Plains,