# Red Flag Warning Issued for Parts of Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota

> The National Weather Service in Billings, Montana, issued a Red Flag Warning for portions of Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota due to critical fire weather conditions, including strong winds and low humidity.

By PrimaryBrief newsroom · Published 2026-10-23T13:52:39.587853Z
Canonical: https://primarybrief.com/article/red-flag-warning-issued-for-parts-of-montana-wyoming-and-south-dakota-090b93fe

A Red Flag Warning is in effect for parts of Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota, issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) in Billings, Montana [1]. The warning began on October 23 at 2:43 AM MDT and is scheduled to remain active until October 24 at 12:00 AM MDT [1]. These conditions are expected to lead to erratic fire behavior and make it difficult to control new or existing fires [1].

The NWS cited a combination of low humidities, unseasonably warm temperatures, and strong gusty winds as factors contributing to the critical fire weather [1]. A wind shift associated with a cold front is also anticipated [1]. Winds are forecast to be from the southwest at 20 to 30 mph, with gusts reaching up to 45 mph [1]. These winds are expected to shift to the northwest behind a cold front moving through the area from late afternoon into early evening [1].

The warning covers North Central Wyoming Fire Zone 274, Southeast Montana Fire Zone 131, and Southeast Montana and Northwest South Dakota Fire Zone 133 [1]. Specific counties affected include Sheridan in Wyoming; Harding in South Dakota; and Big Horn, Carter, Fallon, Powder River, Rosebud, and Treasure in Montana [1]. The most dangerous conditions are predicted along and southeast of a line extending from Baker, Montana, to Sheridan, Wyoming [1].

Forecasters from NWS Billings indicated that very warm, dry, and windy conditions would produce critical fire weather across portions of Northern Wyoming, Southeastern Montana, and Western South Dakota on Friday [3]. For Sheridan County, Wyoming, a Red Flag Warning was reported for October 23, due to dry air, warm temperatures, and strong winds that could cause wildfires to start easily and become hard to control [2]. This specific warning for Sheridan County was noted to run from noon to 9 p.m. MDT on October 23 [2]. While the NWS alert includes Harding County, South Dakota [1], a report updated October 22 stated no Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches were active across South Dakota [5].

## Evidence cited
1. NWS Red Flag Warning: Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation/Ashland Ranger District Custer Natl Forest; Sioux Ranger District Custer National Forest; Sheridan County/Casper BLM (nws_alerts) — https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.d0039b00252270ede22964f78e552e7502247b8b.001.1
2. Red Flag Warning: Sheridan County, WY — October 23, 2026 (rollingout.com) — https://rollingout.com/2026/10/22/red-flag-warning-sheridan-county-wy/
3. NWS Forecast Office Billings, MT (weather.gov) — https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQEvMZe_pn-V1yn-gY8Uw_1U5_MJJaRQWocQh49maJ4yUHcBbbEY47yoZEKCMCRZ7gzh--lR9RbFU5IXzyF7-SKU2tsOiwCl1ucOVR1GCBulIWizff2Plw==
4. Red Flag Warning, Issued Oct 22, 2026 12:14PM MDT, Expires Oct 23, 2026 9:00PM MDT by NWS Billings MT (ventusky.com) — https://ventusky.com/alerts/582236
5. South Dakota Fire Map (Updated 10/22/2026) | Cornea (cornea.is) — https://cornea.is/south-dakota-fire-map