Forecasters predicted another hot dry day in Southcentral Alaska Tuesday, though with the addition of dry thunder and lightening storms.
"It's very dry," National Weather Service meteorologist David Kramer said. "All of the moisture is higher up, and it's enough to kick off the storm, but not enough to make it rain."
Meteorologist Michael Kutz added that if it does rain it will likely be too little to measure or it will be virga rain, which is rain that doesn't reach the ground.
Without rain, forecasters said, fire dangers in the storm are much higher.
Much of the state remained under a series of red flag warnings for dangerous fire weather conditions Tuesday.
Forecasters expect a dry thunderstorm to start in the Talkeetna mountains Tuesday afternoon, push through the Matanuska Valley, into Anchorage, and by evening reach the Kenai Mountains, Kramer said. The thunderstorm is supposed to stay in the mountains, but Kramer added that it could drift over some lower lying areas.
Temperatures in the Susitna Valley -- which includes the Sockeye Fire area in Willow, as well as Talkeetna, and Cantwell -- are expected to reach the high 80s Tuesday, with winds up to 30 miles an hour, according to the weather service forecast.
In Anchorage, where the Anchorage Fire Department issued a zero tolerance burn-ban Monday, temperatures are expected to reach the mid-80s Tuesday.
On the Kenai Peninsula, where the Card Street Fire began blazing Monday, temperatures were also expected to reach the mid-80s in some areas.