By admin 
A red flag wildfire warning has been issued for higher elevations of El Dorado County and neighboring counties, the National Weather Service said.
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The service issued the warning at 11:04 a.m. Wednesday from its Sacramento office.
The warning runs from 5 a.m. Thursday until 9 p.m. for thunderstorms and strong winds, the office said. It covers El Dorado, Alpine, Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties above elevations of 5,000 feet.
The notice warns of “Isolated to scattered coverage of a mix of wet and dry thunderstorms expected. Lightning strikes may also occur outside of main precipitation cores.”
It also warns of “Gusty and erratic outflow winds could occur near any thunderstorm development.”
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Lightning strikes could ignite wildfires that spread rapidly as a result of high winds, the service said.
The red flag warning is an update of an earlier fire weather watch alert by the agency, Sacramento Bee meteorologist Sean Macaday reported.
What is a red flag warning?
A red flag warning signifies that either extreme fire weather conditions are currently in effect or will be shortly. Warm temperatures, very low humidities, and stronger winds are expected to combine to produce an increased risk of fire to spread rapidly.
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This story was originally published August 12, 2026 at 12:46 PM.