Another round of powerful, dry winds to raise wildfire risk across Southern California
Winds will increase and humidity will drop in Southern California this week, raising the risk of wildfires in parched areas still recovering from a recent devastating blaze, forecasters warned Monday.
Wind gusts could reach 80 mph (129 kph) in Los Angeles and Ventura counties as winds increase Tuesday through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
“Scattered downed trees and power outages are likely, along with rapid fire growth and extreme behavior in the event of a fire,” the weather service office for Los Angeles said on X.
Areas where wind gusts over tinder-dry vegetation could cause ‘extreme fire conditions’ include the charred footprint of the wind-driven Franklin Firedamaging or destroying 48 buildings, mostly homes, in and around Malibu.
The fire was one of nearly 8,000 wildfires that burned more than 1 million acres in the Golden State last year.
Recent dry winds, including those from the infamous Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has seen very little rain so far this season. There have now been cases in the north several severe storms so far this season.
The “extreme precipitation differences” between the northern and southern parts of the state are expected to persist throughout the winter, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Northern California’s weather systems “also included relatively warm storms, keeping temperatures warmer than average across most of California in recent weeks,” Swain wrote in an update on his website on Saturday.
Southern California has not seen more than 0.25 inches of rain since early May. According to the US Drought Monitor, much of the region is in a moderate drought situation.
Parts of San Diego County have seen the driest start to the season — and the driest nine-month stretch overall — in more than 150 years, Swain wrote.