LOS ANGELES — The season’s first Santa Ana wind event is bringing strong winds and low humidity to parts of Southern California this weekend, creating a critical risk of wildfire development and spread.
Dry, offshore flow will spread across Central and Southern California beginning Saturday, peaking Sunday and lasting into early next week.
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Gusts in the canyons north and east of Los Angeles are expected to reach 35-50 mph, with isolated gusts as high as 60-65 mph in the Ventura and Los Angeles County mountains and valleys.
In addition, the downsloping effect of strong, offshore winds that are sinking down the Southern California mountains will dry the air further across the region, leaving relative humidity levels in single digits, perhaps as low as 3%, according to the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.
Fire Weather Warnings are in effect for various areas around the greater Los Angeles hills, including Malibu, Santa Clarita Valley, Ventura County Mountains, the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains from 3 a.m. Sunday into Monday night. They may need to extend in to Tuesday, NWS Los Angeles said.
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“This is a DANGEROUS event,” NWS Los Angeles posted on X. “Residents in high fire danger areas should PREPARE NOW if called to evacuate.”
Similar dry, gusty offshore winds are enhancing the fire dangers in Northern California this weekend.
Northeasterly winds known as Diablo Winds — Northern California’s counterpart to Southern California’s Santa Ana winds — will gust as high as 30-45 mph with higher gusts to 60-70 mph along the mountain peaks. Meanwhile, the humidity will drop to between 10-25%, even in the Bay Area.
Fire Weather Warnings are posted for the North Mountains, East Bay Hills and Santa Cruz Mountains into Sunday night. Again, conditions are ripe for blowing down trees and power lines, and any wildfires could spread quickly.
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Wind conditions relax Sunday night, and wildfire danger will ease as the workweek begins.
While Canada has far surpassed all annual records for wildfires, so far it has been a below-average wildfire season in the United States.
Fires have burned about 2.5 million acres across the U.S. in 2023 so far, below the 10-year average of 6.5 million acres and last year’s 7.2 million acres charred.