The persistent spell of dry weather that has lingered across New Jersey for the past seven days helped fuel the massive brush fire that burned hundreds of acres of meadows in Hudson County on Tuesday, officials said.

Although an outbreak of new brush fires is possible on Wednesday, it's not as likely, because wind gusts will not be as strong as they were a day ago, according to forecasters at the National Weather Service regional office in Mount Holly.

However, there is some concern that Thursday's conditions could be similar to Tuesday's conditions, as very low humidity persists and winds are expected to get stronger in the afternoon, said meteorologist Walter Drag.

Drag said those two ingredients could be enough to trigger a new round of fire warnings, known as red flag warnings, although no decision on that has yet been made. On Tuesday, the weather service issued a fire warning for the entire state because of the dry and windy conditions.

The warning was lifted Tuesday evening, as winds calmed down. Early Wednesday morning, the weather service did not issue any fire watches or warnings but said there is "an elevated risk" of brush fires or larger wildfires Wednesday afternoon. They also said the risk is likely to be higher on Thursday, when southwest winds are expected to get increasingly gusty in the afternoon.

Drag said anyone using cigarettes, barbecue grills or anything else involving flames should use common sense when the ground is so dry and winds pick up.

"People should be smart about the very dry conditions," he said. "It's still very dry."

On Tuesday, firefighters struggled to contain a huge brush fire that burned near the NJ Transit rail line in Secaucus. The town's mayor, who doubles as a volunteer firefighter, described the conditions of high winds and dry brush as "terrible'' and said hundreds of acres of meadowlands ended up burning.

Smoke from the fire was visible for many miles and actually appeared on weather radar.

A smaller brush fire broke out in Kearny on Tuesday, shortly before the Secaucus fire began.

Smoke plume from a brush fire in Kearny #NJwx showing up on KEWR (Newark) terminal doppler radar. pic.twitter.com/btf4kkdQiy — WeatherWorks (@WeatherWorks) April 19, 2016

Must be a good brush fire in Secaucus if it is showing up on this radar. Usually hard to see. pic.twitter.com/x5ZVPQozMO — 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕔 𝕁𝕣. ❄️⛈🌊 (@WxmanFranz) April 19, 2016

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality. Find NJ.com on Facebook.