No emergency outages after Santa Ana winds prompted Southern California fire danger warnings
The National Weather Service in Los Angeles issued a dangerous fire weather warning for southern and coastal areas from Sunday night through Tuesday.
The agency said the combination of high temperatures, dry fuel and strong winds is predicted to result in a “major fire event” that would cause fires to spread quickly and quickly consume large areas of property.
“There is a very serious fire weather threat that would affect much of Los Angeles County and south-central and eastern parts of San Diego County,” the weather service said in a statement on Monday. “The threat may be exacerbated by the occurrence of extreme low pressure, which will provide fuel for fires and cause wind to occur more frequently.”
The weather service said the danger level is yellow.
The warning, which comes with the red “Caution” state, was issued for the mountains, foothills and the coastal areas where winds are expected to reach between 30 to 75 mph.
An NWS statement said winds have been forecast to exceed 40 mph in Los Angeles on Sunday night and Sunday.
The weather agency said the weather could cause fires to develop rapidly in the mountains and foothills where wind speeds could reach up to 60 mph.
On Monday, the weather service announced that winds will be downgraded into an even lower fire weather warning.
“With the winds having decreased to 35 to 40 miles per hour, the severity of the fire risk and fire weather threat has been reduced,” the statement said. “The low fire weather threat to Los Angeles County remains and is expected to remain until Tuesday.”
Residents in the mountains were told to expect intermittent closures of mountainside roads and public parking areas, including mountain highways, on Monday.
The fire weather warning follows a weekend of high winds and dry weather that have prompted power outages in multiple locations.
Kern County residents had to endure power outages in their homes as well as road closures for more than an hour on Sunday night.
An NWS spokesperson said officials are still investigating Monday’s power failures.
The weather service said the high wind-fueled power outages were caused by trees falling in the area and power lines snapping as the ground became saturated with water.
Wind gusts up to 90 mph were recorded at Bonsall Dam,