The North Texas region is under critical or extreme fire threats on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. This is the first time parts of the area have seen an extreme fire threat in about 16 years,

PALO PINTO, Texas — Several thousand Oncor customers are without power Friday as high winds hit North Texas. Oncor said in a Facebook post that it was closely monitoring the system that is bringing high winds to much of its service area Friday and said that employees would respond to any outages as soon as it was safe to do so.

After a brief cooldown, heat and high winds are expected to return to North Texas. Residents should prepare for increased fire danger this coming week.

Strong winds and dry conditions are fueling wildfires and increasing threats across Texas. Climate researchers have said the ingredients are in place for a wildfire threat North Texas hasn't seen in at least 10 years.

High winds are stirring up dust, putting parts of North Texas under a blowing dust advisory until 9 p.m. Friday. The weather service said as a result,

The North Texas region is under critical or extreme fire threats on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Our fire threat remains Elevated to Critical on Saturday as very low humidity remains in place, with gusty winds. Sunday will be less breezy, but the breeze returns next week, as

So far, DFW has not seen any major fires, but the extreme threat continues into Friday afternoon. North Texas fire departments have increased staffing and more tools on hand, responding with more than the typical number of engines.