Red Flag warnings will be in effect for Los Angeles and Ventura counties from Tuesday to Thursday as strong Santa Ana winds blast through the area.
“A fairly rare situation setting up starting tonight, peak lasting into Thursday with a peak of Tuesday evening into Wednesday,” Andrew Rourke with the National Weather Service told KNX News’ Jon Baird.
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Winds in L.A. County are expected to be between “30 to 45 mph with gusts between 60 and 80 mph expected,” while winds in Ventura County are expected to be between “25 to 40 mph with gusts between 60 and 80 mph expected,” according to NWS.
The warnings will be upgraded to "particularly dangerous situation" red flag warnings -- noting extremely critical wildfire conditions -- from noon Tuesday to 4 p.m. Wednesday for L.A. County beaches, the coastal area stretching into downtown, the Malibu Coast, the Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area, the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, San Gabriel Mountains and the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway corridor,
“That means that it's a situation where the combination of all the factors is coming together to form an environment where fires starts,” Rourke explained. “ If they do, we'll put it extremely rapidly and extremely dangerously.”
"A very strong, widespread, and destructive north to northeast windstorm will bring Extremely Critical fire weather conditions to many areas of Los Angeles and eastern Ventura counties Tuesday afternoon into early Wednesday afternoon," according to the NWS. "This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION (PDS) Red Flag Warning event in many areas, with the combination of very strong upper level wind support, tightening offshore pressure gradients and moderate cold air advection.
Captain Erik Scott with the LA City Fire Department told Baird that only 20% of Los Angeles is actually in the wildfire brush areas and that's where they will concentrate their extra firefighting resources.
“So that way, those additional firefighters are prepared,” he said. “They're ready. The brush bags are ready to go. The equipment is fully checked out and we have additional resources at the fire stations that are abutting some of the hillsides, and that allows us to hit things hard and fast.”
Nearly 300,000 Edison customers are under the possibility of having their power shut off due to the weather.
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