A red flag warning signifying a high risk of wildfires was extended through Saturday afternoon in the interior mountains of Los Angeles County and the Santa Clarita Valley as a result of more gusty northeast winds and very low humidity.
A red flag warning expired at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Santa Monica Mountains, San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.
“Prolonged very dry conditions will continue through Sunday or Monday, with widespread minimum humidities under 10% and very poor overnight recoveries under 20% away from the coast,” according to a National Weather Service statement. “Locally gusty offshore winds will persist through Saturday, with peak gusts between 25 and 35 mph over some valleys and interior mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura (counties, where the red flag warning is in effect). The winds will remain present but weaken Saturday night into Sunday. There is a small chance that the red flag warnings need to be extended into Sunday.”
The conditions present a “dangerous environment for fire growth, even with weaker winds than earlier this week,” according to the weather service, which urged people to use extra caution with any potential ignition sources.
“If fire ignition occurs, conditions will be favorable for dangerous fire behavior and rapid fire spread, which would threaten life and property,” weather service officials said.
Forecasters said they expect winds of 10-20 miles per hour with isolated gusts to 35 mph. At the same time, the humidity level will be down between 2 and 8 percent.
In Orange County, where a red flag warning was to have been in effect through much of Thursday, it was canceled Wednesday night thanks to dramatically weakened winds.