Weather turning into an ally
Lighter winds and an increase in humidity levels Monday were expected to spell good news for firefighters battling the Colorado Fire near the Big Sur coast after strong, offshore winds caused a blaze that burned around 700 acres in two days and resulted in hundreds of people being evacuated from their homes.
The fire was 35% contained as of Monday morning, according to Cal Fire. Five hundred people remain under evacuation orders.
The Colorado Fire started Friday shortly after 5 p.m. near Palo Colorado Canyon during low humidity and pea. The blaze burned along Long Ridge toward the Bixby Bridge but the iconic 1930s arches remain unscathed.
Friday, approximately 1,110 customers lost power after the fire damaged electric equipment. The outage began at 7:53 p.m. and was fully resolved Sunday afternoon. The fire-related outages impacted customers in Big Sur, Carmel and Monterey.
Firefighters were still working to target hot spots and control the blaze as of Monday morning, according to Cal Fire. Highway 1 remained closed from Garrapata Creek to Point Sur. The flames damaged one yurt and threatened hundreds of structures on Sunday.
Calmer winds and gradually recovering humidity levels were expected to be
beneficial for battling the blaze on Monday, according to National Weather Service forecaster David King. Fog in the North Bay valleys will also begin to spread across the Bay Area, leading to the development of a marine layer along the Big Sur coastline that was previously suppressed by high pressure.
“All in all, it’s a slow, steady improvement of conditions, which will definitely help the firefight,” King said.
Cal Fire spokesperson Cecile Juliette said there was an “active fire” and off-shore winds posed a concern overnight but that weather conditions were more “favorable” on Monday.
Despite the onslaught of rain at the start of the water year, which began on Oct. 1, and a relatively wetter
year compared to previous ones, California is still mired in ongoing, longterm drought. There also hasn’t been measurable rain in January, resulting in the chaparral on the mountainsides of Big Sur to dry out and be more susceptible to catching on fire.
“Anecdotally, it seems as though the long-term drought is acting like a chronic illness where even recent rains and cold winter isn’t helping to keep fires from developing,” according to a National Weather Service report.
Although the bulk of wildfire season is concentrated in the late summer, as well as in September and October, global warming, in addition to the longterm drought, has made around-the-year wildfires more of a commonality in western states.
“October was incredibly wet, November wasn’t too bad and January has gone back to a quiet month for rain and so that’s where it leads to it trending drier recently,” King said. “Even though we got all that rain upfront, it still made for conditions that were dry enough and when you get these offshore winds bringing in drier air, it’s going to decrease relative humidity and lead to a fire.”
There is a slight chance for precipitation at the end of this week in the Bay Area, but it won’t be too much in terms of accumulation and will be mostly focused on the North Bay instead of the Monterey area, according to King.
“We’ll take any precipitation we can get,” he said. “There’s still time for the forecast to be adjusted.”