The National Weather Service suggests using caution when open burning Thursday for the Raccoon River Valley area.

According to the Iowa Grassland Fire Danger Index, Greene, Guthrie and Dallas counties are rated high for Thursday. The scale ranges from a low rating to extreme, with high being in the middle. No Iowa county is experiencing extreme conditions, but the southwest portion of the state is very high and central Iowa is high.

The National Weather Service reports our area having minimum relative humidity in the 30-percent range. That combined with winds gusting as high as 30-miles-per-hour from the east, is causing dangerous conditions for open burning.

The next chance of rain is Friday evening for our listening area.