Drought, heat and wind raise fire danger across Georgia

Dry weather persists in Georgia landing most of the state in high fire danger conditions.

The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning Monday morning in portions of North Georgia due to low relative humidities and gusty winds. The warning lasted until 8 p.m. Monday.

The dry weather will be accompanied with persistent warm temperatures this week. The high temperature will reach the low 90s in the Metro Atlanta area towards the end of the week. 

The high temperatures are due to a persistent high pressure system over the Southeast causing very warm and dry weather. 

Current drought conditions will worsen given the lack of rainfall this week, and rain chances will only slightly increase next weekend.

Almost all of the state has been categorized as having more than moderate drought conditions with most of the state being categorized as in an extreme drought or exceptional drought. Exceptional drought is the highest category on the drought map by the National Weather Service.

An exceptional drought means the agriculture economy is severely impacted, fire risk is high with an increase in fire activity, hydroelectric power generation is significantly reduced and tree mortality is high with army worm outbreaks likely to occur.

These most severe drought conditions are mostly impacting the southern part of the state, which has also faced great damage from hurricanes in recent years.