SALT LAKE CITY — A new fire weather designation is raising the alarm across part of Utah, and forecasters say it represents the worst level of fire alert they have forecast.
The National Weather Service office in Salt Lake City has issued a "particularly dangerous situation," or PDS, designation for a portion of southwest Utah. The designation is the highest-level fire weather alert and is reserved for conditions that go beyond a standard red flag warning.
Darren Van Cleave, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the PDS designation exists because some conditions demand a stronger message.
"Bigger fire season like the one that we're having this year, you'll notice we have red flag warnings off and on throughout much of the season and sometimes we have a situation meteorologically that's just at a higher level than the rest and we need some vehicle, some tool," Van Cleave said.
While all of Utah is currently under a red flag warning, the PDS is targeted specifically at southwest Utah, where forecasters say wind gusts of 55 mph or more are expected for 3 or more hours, and humidity levels are forecast to drop below 10%.
The meteorologists still have some discretion once that criterion is reached, but Van Cleave says this was an easy call.
"The particularly dangerous situation, the PDS, is only for a portion of southwest Utah. That's where we have the strongest winds forecast. That's where we have the driest conditions in the forecast, and it also happens to be where we have a very large fire," Van Cleave said.
PDS is not a new term, but it has been newly applied to fire weather severity. Van Cleave said the designation is meant to signal that forecasters are treating conditions as a worst-case scenario across every relevant factor.
"It's the first time we've elevated our message to the highest. Take all those things and just imagine a worst case of each of them," Van Cleave said.
Forecasters say they hope the PDS designation only needs to be issued every 5 years or so, but the current fire season has already pushed conditions to that threshold.
"I can't say that we're not going to do it again this summer. I would prefer that we not have to," Van Cleave said.
The designation comes as devastating wildfires in recent years — including fires in Hawaii and the Los Angeles area — have underscored the need for clearer, more urgent public communication about extreme fire weather conditions.
