2 weeks Ago
Southern California is bracing for another round of strong, potentially dangerous Santa Ana winds just over a month after a similar wind event helped fuel the Mountain Fire , which scorched nearly 20,000 acres in Ventura County and sent residents scrambling for safety. More than 10 million people across the region are under red flag warnings Monday through Wednesday, including a “Potentially Dangerous Situation” red flag warning for the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, the Santa Clarita Valley, Ventura County coasts and valleys and western San Fernando Valley. It begins at 10 p.
m. Monday and lasts through Tuesday afternoon. A Potentially Dangerous Situation red flag warning was also issued for the Santa Susana Mountains until 10 a.
m. Wednesday. Wind gusts of 50 mph to 80 mph and humidities between 5% and 15% are expected across the coasts, valleys and mountains of the Santa Ana wind-prone corridor.
These Potentially Dangerous Situations are rarely issued and are reserved for the most extreme events; however, climate change is increasing the frequency of these events. Last month, similar Santa Ana winds helped the Mountain Fire explode in size and send it tearing through neighborhoods, prompting evacuations and school closures. Downed trees and power outages are expected with this week’s winds.
Combined with the very dry vegetation, any new sparks caused by downed power lines could quickly grow into large and potentially life-threatening wildfires. The timing of this Santa Ana Wind Event is similar to the Thomas Fire , which burned over 280,000 acres from December 2017 to January 2018 and is the ninth-largest wildfire in California history. The Thomas Fire was caused by downed power lines, according to CalFire .
“The hardest hit areas will likely be the San Gabriels, Santa Susanas, western Santa Monicas into Malibu, Ventura county valleys (especially Simi Valley and Moorpark), western San Fernando Valley (especially Highway 118/210 corridors from Porter Ranch to San Fernando), and the hills above Camarillo into east Ventura,” the weather service office in Los Angeles warned. The winds are expected to begin to sharply increase late Monday morning and will continue to increase through the day, peaking Monday night through the day on Tuesday. The conditions will slowly begin to improve Wednesday as some of the Potentially Dangerous Situation warnings should expire.
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