High winds buffet Yuma County
Knocking out power and causing small brush fires
High winds with gusts between 30 and 45 m.p.h. pummeled Yuma County on Monday, causing three power outages, but no serious damage.
Meteorologist Jaret Rogers, of the National Weather Service, said the winds were the result of a really strong weather-front that moved into the area over the weekend.
“The strongest winds will be on Monday,” Rogers said. “It still may be breezy overnight and into Tuesday afternoon.”
The storm will also drop temperatures by a few degrees – into the low to mid70s – on Tuesday, along with an overnight low of 52. However, temperatures are expected to warm back up normal for this time of year by Wednesday.
APS spokesperson Jim McDonald said the three separate power outages on Monday impacted a total of 1,022 customers.
The largest of the outages, which affected 975 customers, happened at 2:46 p.m., with the boundaries being from the Colorado River, south of Interstate 8, to the Quechan substation and from 8th Avenue to Gila Street
“The outage was due to unknown interference to a power pole,” McDonald said. “The cause is still under investigation.”
Although power had been completely restored by 4 p.m., downtown Yuma, including the Justice Center, Detention Center and City Hall, were all tempo
rarily with out electricity.
While City Hall and the administrative offices of the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office both closed, YCSO spokesperson Lt. Sam Pavlak said the detention center was unaffected because the jail has backup generators.
The two other outages were much smaller, with 22 and 25 customers. Power wasn’t expected to be restored to the 25 customer
outage, which happened in
the area of 28th Street and Catalina Drive until about 7 p.m.
Although the high winds were accompanied by blowing dust that reduced visibility, neither the sheriff’s office or Yuma police reported any increase in traffic collisions or property damage.
The National Weather Service also issued a Red Flag warning on Monday advising that winds combined with low humidity and dry vegetation posed dangerous fire weather
The Yuma Fire Department reported responding to two small brush fires along interstate 8, one at Araby Road and another in the median at milepost 3.
An Air Quality Alert was also issued due to the potential of widespread blowing wind increasing the spread of coarse particulate matter – known as PM-10.