Potentially dangerous winds and low humidity will increase the chances for fire to quickly spread across Southern California this week. Fire weather advisories are in place through Wednesday.
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – Southern California is forecast to experience potentially damaging Santa Ana winds through midweek, fueling a critical fire threat for the mountains and valleys of Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
Santa Ana winds blow from the Santa Ana Mountains in Southern California, bringing in hot, dry air from east of the mountains. They can occur at any time of year but are more common during cooler weather from fall through winter.
These strong winds are forecast to have the biggest impacts on Los Angeles and Ventura counties beginning Monday night through Wednesday evening.
Many of the windier corridors in these counties could experience damaging wind gusts, which could cause downed trees and powerlines, along with power outages.
Santa Ana winds can often increase the fire danger for Southern California, and forecasters are expecting that to be the case this week.
(FOX Weather)
The greatest fire threat will unfold on Tuesday evening into Wednesday. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center is forecasting critical fire weather conditions for Santa Clarita, Palmdale, Lancaster, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service said the fire threat will increase across Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Wednesday, where humidity in the single digits could coincide with damaging winds between 60 and 80 mph.
A Fire Weather Warning is in place for the Los Angeles and Ventura County mountains and valleys through Wednesday night. A warning is also in place for the Ventura County coast and Malibu through Wednesday afternoon.
The San Luis Obispo County mountains face a Fire Weather Watch until Tuesday night.
Santa Clarita and Temecula could see wind gusts around 50 mph.
With the forecast conditions, the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) is asking people to refrain from using spark-creating equipment outdoors this week.
“If you must, ensure you have adequate water on hand to extinguish any sparks before it’s too late,” LAFD wrote on Facebook.
(FOX Weather)
A Fire Weather Warning is also in place from Monday morning to Wednesday morning for all San Diego County mountain and valley areas and the Inland Empire.
Wind gusts could reach up to 70 mph on Tuesday in the mountains, and relative humidity will be between 5% and 10%.
Winds will decrease by Wednesday afternoon. However, the humidity will stay extremely low.