Los Angeles braces for ‘life-threatening and destructive’ winds
With parched vegetation and one of the strongest Santa Ana windstorms in years expected to sweep through Southern California this week, the region is bracing for the type of weather that can help wildfires spark and spread quickly and easily.
Forecasters on Monday warned that they expected “life-threatening and destructive” winds to combine with dry air, creating a critical fire-weather event in Southern California in the coming days. In addition to the fire risk, widespread damaging wind gusts, reaching 50 to 80 mph, and even above 100 mph in the mountains, may knock down trees and power lines.
In anticipation, utility companies that serve the region warned they could begin shutting off power to some customers, though none had done so yet Monday. San Diego Gas and Electric Co. said it was considering power shut-offs for more than 64,000 customers as early as noon Tuesday. Southern California Edison said it was considering cutting off nearly 300,000 customers, one of its largest preemptive outages ever.
These winds aren’t unusual, and the strongest Santa Ana winds typically happen this time of the year. But by January, Los Angeles has usually had enough rain that the fire threat is mitigated because the vegetation is greener and there is more moisture in the ground. This year, that hasn’t been the case, said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.
Because the vegetation is extremely dry, if a fire starts, these winds will help it spread rapidly – just as the Mountain fire did in November across Ventura County and the Franklin fire did in Malibu in December. “Any spark, any ignition source, could lead to something very, very dramatic, very, very quickly,” Thompson said.
After a short-lived dip in speed Tuesday afternoon, the winds are expected to accelerate to dangerous levels from Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. Gusty winds and dangerous conditions could linger into Thursday or Friday.
The weather conditions will mostly be similar to those that led to the Mountain and Franklin fires. However, in a few areas, winds may reach stronger levels than during those earlier events.