The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch for the Sierra Nevada above 3,000 feet, from this evening through Thursday evening. This includes the Sierra Nevada of Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties as well as all of Alpine CountyThunderstorms and strong outflow winds are forecast. Gusty and erratic outflow winds are expected and may occur near any thunderstorm development. Lightning can create new fire starts and may combine with strong outflow winds to cause a fire to rapidly grow in both size and intensity. A Fire Weather Watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur.