A wildfire burned Sunday outside Waseca, Minn., as high winds gusted across the southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities.

Forecasters’ predictions of high wind and low humidity led the National Weather Service to issue a warning of “red flag” conditions for wildfires in southwestern Minnesota. Blue Earth, Dodge, Faribault, Freeborn, Houston, Martin, Mower, Fillmore, Olmsted, Steele, Waseca, Watonwan and Winona counties were under the warning from noon until 6 p.m. Sunday.

Sunday saw high winds across southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities, with gusts of up to 20 mph at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The National Weather Service also noted record heat for early March: Sunday’s high temperature of 72 degrees in the Twin Cities is the earliest the temperature in the metro has been above 70 degrees.

Just after noon Sunday, the National Weather Service’s radar picked up what appeared to be a smoke plume and hot spot northeast of the city of Waseca, according to meteorologist Tyler Hasenstein.

Then spotters in southwestern Minnesota started sending in photos of the fire, and people started posting photos on social media, Hasenstein said.

“Because of a large fire around the Snake Trail area, we are requesting everyone to STAY AWAY from this area!” read a post on the Waseca county sheriff’s Facebook page.

Smoke from the fire was visible in the south metro, almost an hour north of Waseca.