"The bottom line remains: It's going to be flat out windy Friday morning into early afternoon, when the Panhandles can expect 30-40 mph sustained winds. The track of the upper level storm system will then dictate who sees the highest gusts of 60 to 70+ mph," NWS Amarillo wrote on X.

The strongest winds will be blasting across parts of West Texas and the Panhandle, where gusts could reach 80 mph Friday afternoon.

On Thursday at 2:07 p.m. a high wind warning was issued by the NWS Fort Worth TX valid for Friday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The warning is for Wise, Denton, Collin, Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, Hood, Johnson,

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,