LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Much of the Southland was enjoying a respite Tuesday from powerful winds that had been blasting the region, but even stronger Santa Ana conditions are expected by Wednesday morning, leading to more warnings of critical fire danger conditions.
Many valley and mountain areas spent Monday under red flag wildfire conditions as Santa Ana winds blew through the region and humidity levels dropped to critically low levels. But National Weather Service forecasters said that was only a taste of what’s to come.
“There is increased confidence of a stronger, more widespread, and longer duration Santa Ana wind event which will likely bring widespread critical fire weather conditions to many wind prone areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties Wednesday into Thursday,” according to the NWS.
Forecasters said the situation will be “a high end red flag warning event,” with the strongest winds anticipated Wednesday “when widespread damaging wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph are likely in the mountains and foothills of Los Angeles and Ventura counties (including the Santa Monicas and Santa Susanas), with isolated gusts of 80 to 100 mph possible in favored areas of the San Gabriels.”
“For wind prone coastal and valley areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, damaging gusts of 50 to 70 mph will be likely (including the Malibu coast and Ventura county coastal plain),” according to the NWS. “Due to the strong upper level wind support, typical wind sheltered areas such as portions of the L.A. basin (mainly Hollywood Hills), Lake Casitas and Ojai, as well as the Channel Islands and Catalina Island are expected to see gusty north to northeast winds with associated red flag fire weather concerns.”
Forecasters said humidity levels are expected to drop to 8% to 15% by Wednesday afternoon, continuing into Thursday, giving the region a dangerous combination of dry, windy conditions.
A red flag warning of critical fire conditions will be in effect from 4 a.m. Wednesday until 6 p.m. Thursday in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Antelope Valley (14) and Golden State (5) freeway corridors, the Santa Clarita Valley, the Malibu coast, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley and the Antelope Valley Foothills.
A separate red flag warning will be in place from 7 a.m. Wednesday until noon Thursday for Catalina Island and the Los Angeles County inland coast, including downtown Los Angeles.
“This is a dangerous fire weather event. Any new fires in the red flag warning area will have rapid fire spread, extreme fire behavior, and long range spotting,” forecasters said.
As is typical with Santa Ana wind events, Southern California Edison officials warned that some residents may be subjected to “Public Safety Power Shutoffs,” in which electricity is cut to some areas experiencing particularly high winds to reduce the possibility of fires being sparked by damaged equipment.
Thanks to Tuesday’s brief break from the winds, no such shutoffs were in effect as of mid-morning Tuesday. But the utility was warning nearly 47,000 customers in Los Angeles County and more than 8,100 in Orange County that they were under consideration for cuts once the gusting winds return Wednesday.
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