By Monica Garrett, CNN

According to the Storm Prediction Center, a large outbreak of wildfires is likely Tuesday in the southern High Plains, due to very strong winds, warm temperatures and dry conditions.

Nearly 10 million people are the subject of red flag warnings in parts of half a dozen states, discouraging outdoor fires and warning of the rapid spread of fires.

The highest – extremely critical – fire weather threat level was issued for the North Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle and Southwestern Kansas, including Amarillo, Texas, and Dodge City and Liberal in Kansas.

On Tuesday afternoon, “sustained winds of 35 to 40 mph gusting to 65 to 70 mph are expected from the Texas Panhandle into central Kansas,” the forecast center said. High wind warnings are in place for this area and southwest into New Mexico and west to Texas.

“Extreme to catastrophic grass fire danger will impact southwest Kansas through west Texas today,” the National Weather Service in Wichita, Kansas warned, adding that the fires will rapidly spreading grass will be impossible to control. The prescribed burns of recent days are also of concern.

Texas has been besieged by wildfires in recent weeks. This month, 726 wildfires — 121 the previous week — have burned 164,257 acres across the state, the Forest Service said in a news release Monday.

Critical fire weather conditions on Tuesday – Level 2 of 3 – surround the Extremely Critical Fire Threat Zone and stretch from western Texas to central Kansas, including Lubbock and Midland Texas; Salina, Kansas; and Roswell, New Mexico. This area will experience gusty winds with dry and hot conditions, increasing the risk of fire in the region.

Conditions could compare to Santa Ana winds

An outbreak of wildfires in the Southern Plains “can be compared to the high-impact Santa Ana wildfires occurring in Southern California,” the Texas A&M Forest Service explained.

A wildfire outbreak occurs when two large wildfires and at least eight others burn more than 10,000 acres in a single weather event, said Todd Lindley, chief science and operations officer for the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, and a member of the Southern Plains Wildfire Outbreak Group. .

“Dangerous fire behavior (is) likely to occur in multiple wildfires, and looks like wildfires today in Kansas on December 15, 2021 and across the great country of Texas just two weeks ago “, did he declare. Tuesday.

The strong winds are due to the storm system that brought rain to California on Monday and will bring severe storms and tornadoes this week to the south.

“Due to high winds, blowing dust will be likely and reduce visibility,” the National Weather Service in Amarillo said.

A cold front will pass through the region on Tuesday, shifting winds from the southwest to the northwest and causing “significant impact to the ongoing fires,” the forecast center said.

“Wind-driven Great Plains wildfires typically burn in a straight line downwind,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers explained. “If the wind turns, you will have miles and miles of wildfires burning in a different direction. Think of a line that burns out and then expands to a square.

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CNN’s Robert Shackelford contributed to this report.