Santa Ana winds whipped through much of the Southland Friday, pushing temperatures upward and raising concerns about possible wildfires, and the gusty conditions were expected to continue through much of Saturday.
The winds began battering parts of the region Friday morning and intensified through early afternoon. But as is typical with Santa Ana wind events, the gusts began to calm slightly later in the day.
The winds, however, were expected to gain strength late Friday night and continue into Saturday.
“Temperatures today (Friday) had a very distinct Santa Ana wind profile to them with coastal areas either similar or in some cases warmer than inland areas, and much warmer than the deserts thanks to the downslope heating effects generated by descending air across the mountains,” according to the National Weather Service. “Expecting a similar situation Saturday but equalizing some as the cold air shifts east so temperature trends tomorrow (Saturday) will be higher inland than at the coast. Overall for coast and valleys lots of low to mid 80s expected.”
The combination of gusty winds, higher temperatures and low humidity brought on by the Santa Ana conditions prompted forecasters to issue a red flag warning of critical fire danger for valley and mountain areas.
The warning will be in effect until 6 p.m Saturday in the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys, the Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, San Gabriel Mountains and the 5 and 14 Freeway corridors.
“Santa Ana wind gusts of 25 to 40 mph with isolated gusts to 50 mph will continue through Saturday, strongest in the valley hills and mountain peaks,” according to the NWS. “Relative humidity will fall into the 5 to 15 percent range each day, with very poor overnight recoveries tonight. Such an environment will support rapid fire growth and erratic fire behavior.”
With a red flag warning in place, the city of Los Angeles enacted red flag parking restrictions, which prevents people in fire-prone areas from parking vehicles on streets where they could potentially hinder access for fire crews.
Southern California Edison, meanwhile, warned customers in wind- and fire-prone areas that they could have their power cut as a precautionary measure aimed at preventing wildfires.
At one point Friday afternoon, nearly 3,200 SCE customers in Los Angeles County had their power shut off as a precautionary measure. Nearly 21,000 more customers in L.A. County were being advised by the utility that they could also lose power, along with nearly 7,800 in Orange County.
The winds should taper off by Sunday, “but the combination of lingering offshore flow and a warming air mass should keep temperatures quite warm for coast and valleys, possibly close to 90 in the warmer valleys and low to mid 80s at the coast,” forecasters said.