As out-of-control fires continued to race across the Southland, red flag warnings signifying a high danger of wildfires stemming from strong, gusty winds and very low humidity were in force for a fifth straight day Friday and have been extended once again — this time until at least 8 p.m. Sunday.
The red flag warnings will be in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, the Angeles National Forest; the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys; L.A. County beach cities, metropolitan Los Angeles, Downtown L.A., the Hollywood Hills and all of Orange County. Red flag warnings are also in effect in Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Wind gusts of between 40 and 60 miles per hour are expected Friday, along with humidity levels of between 6 and 10 percent, National Weather Service forecasters said.
Forecasters had said the Santa Ana windstorm that began Tuesday would likely be the strongest and longest so far this season, which runs from late September through April. The red flag warnings were initially scheduled to last until late Thursday, but the expiration was pushed back — first to Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday.
The NWS forecast sunny skies Friday and highs of 66 degrees in Lancaster; 67 in Palmdale and on Mount Wilson; 75 in Saugus and Avalon; 80 in San Gabriel and at LAX; and 82 in Downtown L.A., Long Beach, Pasadena, Burbank and Woodland Hills.
Temperatures in parts of L.A. County, including Downtown and the San Fernando Valley, are running around 12 degrees above normal, while in the Antelope Valley they’re about seven degrees above average, said NWS meteorologist Curt Kaplan, attributing the heat to a strong upper ridge and an offshore flow.
The weather service forecast a combination of sunshine and smoke in Orange County and highs of 73 in Laguna Beach; 74 in San Clemente; 75 in Newport Beach; 79 in Yorba Linda; and 81 in Fullerton, Anaheim, Irvine and Mission Viejo.
No rain is expected for at least 10 days, Kaplan said.
—City News Service