PG&E’s Emergency Operations Center has announced it has begun preparing for potential Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) for North Bay Mountains later this week.
Middle and high elevations north of Yosemite, northern Sierra foothills and potentially parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains are other potential zones for shutoffs.
The utility announced the possible fire-prevention power outages on its website, pointing to a Diablo wind event that poses high fire danger and is projected this Wednesday to Thursday, or potentially Friday morning.
PG&E said Wednesday’s northerly winds will “develop through the Sacramento Valley through the day and will shift to the north-northeast” in the evening, continuing into “Thursday or Friday.” While it says the strength of the winds is somewhat uncertain, the North Bay and Northern Sierra could see gusts at or above 50 mph.
National Weather Service meteorologist Will Pi told KCBS Radio on Sunday that with all the dry weather the Bay Area has had, it has prompted some fire weather concerns.
"Fortunately, the Glass Fire seems to be under control, but there’s always a concern for new fires developing with the winds and just because of the super dry conditions that we’ve had," he said. "Humidity is expected to get down to the teens to 20 percent."
PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi told The San Francisco Chronicle that “no customers have been notified” yet and that an official outage event has not been announced.
To see which zones have the potential for safety shutoffs, visit PG&E’s forecast on its website.