As red flag warnings crop up across wide swathes of West and North Texas this week, a section east of Dallas-Fort Worth could see another kind of risk on Wednesday afternoon: punishing severe storms.

After a cold weekend in North Texas, above-average temperatures are settling in for the workweek. Temperatures were 5-10 degrees above average on Monday, and the warming trend is expected to continue throughout the week.

An elevated fire threat continues through Thursday and then Friday increases to a critical fire danger threat. Friday’s winds will gust to near 45 mph - 50 mph as a cold front moves into and through North Texas.