SANTA ANA WINDS TO BUILD AGAIN INLAND TODAY
Weather service predicts gusts won’t be as severe as Thursday’s; power still out for thousands as precaution
The explosive Santa Ana winds that fed a wildfire in Rancho San Diego, closed schools in North and East county and forced San Diego Gas & Electric to cut power to as many as 73,000 customers will restrengthen early today possibly creating new problems in a county that’s critically dry.
The system, which whipped up dust clouds along Interstate 8 and smoothed the face of cobalt blue waves along the coast, will generate 30 to 35 mph gusts across mountains slopes and inland foothills.
“Things won’t be as bad as they were (Wednesday and Thursday), but the winds will tick back up,” said Casey Owsant, a National Weather Service forecaster.
The lashing is the latest in a series of Santa Ana windstorms that have snapped though San Diego County this fall and is likely to be followed by a new system on Monday, forecasters say. The dry winds are causing vegetation to wither at a time when the county’s rainfall is running more than 1.5 inches below average.
The current system came roaring out of eastern Utah, northwestern Colorado and southern Wyoming — a river of air that will f low into the county through Saturday.
SDG&E expected the winds to be strong. But the battering was a bit more than anticipated, especially on Wednesday evening.
“Our network of 220 weather stations has recorded some of the highest wind speeds we’ve seen since we first began installing our system
more than a decade ago,” Brian D’Agostino, SDG&E’s Director of Fire Science and Climate Adaptation, said in a statement Thursday.
“We recognize there is no good time to be without power, especially during a pandemic when families are distance learning or working from home. The decision to shut off power for safety is never made lightly. However, these conditions certainly warrant doing so in order to reduce wildfire safety risk and protect public safety.”
The outages hit everywhere from Alpine, Campo and Julian, to Lakeside, Rancho Bernardo, Valley Center and Encinitas.
Three county jails were scooped up in the planned outages when SDG&E cut power in Otay Mesa early Thursday morning, according to the Sheriff ’s Department, which runs the jails.
The three sites — George Bailey Detention Facility, East Mesa Reentry Facility and Facility 8 — relied on generator power until the utility turned the lights back on Thursday afternoon.
But the power outage affected the ability to do video conferencing for inmates in Facility 8 and George Bailey to connect to their court hearings — remote video hearings are in place due to COVID-19 concerns — so those hearings had to be postponed.
Several school districts in East County and North County closed schools Thursday as high winds prompted San Diego Gas & Electric to shut off power.
The county Office of Education said all the schools in the Alpine Union, Dehesa, Valley Center-Pauma Unified and Warner Unified school districts would be closed.
In addition, some school districts closed individual schools in specific areas.
The Cajon Valley Union School District announced it would close Hillsdale Middle, Jamacha Elementary, Rancho San Diego Elementary and Vista Grande Elementary schools because of power outages and road closures after a brush fire ignited in Rancho San Diego Wednesday night.
County officials also announced several schools in the Poway Unified School District would be closed due to power outages, including Abraxas High, Garden Elementary, Meadowbrook Middle, Painted Rock Elementary, Pomerado Elementary and Poway High.
“The lack of power means our HVAC systems are not working, thus limiting ventilation in our classrooms. Adequate ventilation is a key component of our COVID-19 protocols, thus we have decided to close these schools for safety reasons,” Poway off icials said in a written statement.
Eucalyptus Hills and Lakeside Farms schools’ classes in the Lakeside Union School District also were canceled because of power outages, the county Office of Education said.
The Willow fire destroyed one home and damaged six others, charring around 30 acres of brush. As of Thursday morning, fire officials said it was 50 percent contained.
By early Wednesday morning, SDG&E reported it had shut down to power to approximately 73,300 customers to reduce wildfire risk and protect public safety.
By afternoon, crews began restoring power in some areas, and the number had decreased to just over 41,000 by 8 p.m.
SDG&E opened 10 drivethrough Community Resource Centers where those without power can charge cell phones, get access to WiFi, obtain water and receive up-to-date information on outages, among other services.
At least 18 weather stations in the region reported gusts of more than 60 mph overnight, with one station have a peak of 94 mph, according to the utility.
At 1 p.m. Wednesday, the California Independent System Operator, which manages about 80 percent of the power grid in the state, issued a Restricted Maintenance Operations notice for the San Diego area.
That’s an order calling on power generators and transmission operators to postpone any planned outages for routine equipment maintenance to make sure all grid assets are available.