Record heat, Santa Ana winds ratchet up Calif. fire threat
Record-breaking heat and fierce Santa Ana winds are forecast for portions of Southern California on both Monday and Tuesday, which would help fan and exacerbate any wildfires that might flare up.
“The duration, strength, and widespread nature of this Santa Ana wind event combined with extreme heat will bring dangerous fire weather conditions to southwest California through Tuesday,” the National Weather Service warned.
Red flag warnings have been posted all the way from Santa Barbara to San Diego, meaning that weather conditions are ideal for the spread of wildfires.
“Gusts can reach 70 mph in some of the north- and east-facing canyons and passes in Southern California,” AccuWeather meteorologist Jake Sojda said.
Highs will be well into the 90s and could top 100 degrees in some locations early this week. Los Angeles’ forecast high of 101 degrees Monday would break a record set in 1965, while the forecast high of 102 Tuesday would break a record set in 1909 when William Howard Taft was the president.
The weather service has issued an excessive heat warning and says people should limit strenuous outdoor activity.
The World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros will be played in sweltering weather Tuesday and Wednesday.
“As the temperature hovers near the 100-degree mark in Los Angeles, baseball fans may experience the hottest World Series games on record,” according to AccuWeather meteorologist Bill Deger.
While the strongest winds and highest temperatures will occur in Southern California, dangerous fire conditions also will occur in fire-scarred Northern California this week, AccuWeather said.
A cooling trend is forecast for the middle and end of the week for most of the state, the weather service said.
Santa Anas, one of the nation’s most notorious wind events, can spread destructive fires, take roofs off of houses and uproot trees in Southern California.
“Nowhere else do such winds impact so many people with so much force and possess such extensive opportunity for damage and destruction,” the weather service said.
The winds, which occur most often in the fall and winter, push dry air from over the inland deserts of California and the Southwest. Santa Anas blow over the mountains between coastal California and the deserts. As the wind comes down the mountains, it’s compressed and warms up.
As the air warms, its relative humidity drops, sometimes to less than 20% or even less than
10%. The extremely low humidity helps dry out vegetation, making it better fuel for fires.
In Northern California, there were signs of progress.
As of Sunday, 6,000 firefighters continued their efforts to contain
10 active wildfires that were still burning, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.
The fires that caused the most death and destruction this month were at least 75% contained. The devastating Tubbs Fire was 94% contained, Cal Fire reported.