Santa Ana winds are forecast to whip the Inland Empire again, arriving Monday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a Fire Weather Watch for the region.
“An area of high pressure … will begin to move over the Great Basin on Monday into Tuesday as an upper level trough (of low pressure) digs over the Southwest U.S.,” the NWS said in a statement. “As the pressure gradient tightens, another round of Santa Ana winds can be expected.”
The Fire Weather Watch will be in effect from 10 a.m. Monday to 10 p.m. Tuesday.
“The event is looking to be of moderate strength, with confidence growing to see strongest winds by Monday night into Tuesday morning,” according to the Weather Service.
A similar offshore wind event led to critical fire weather warnings across the inland region earlier this week.
Meteorologists predicted northeast winds averaging 15 to 25 mph, gusting to 45 mph, though mountain passes and canyons could experience periodic wind speeds up to 60 mph.
The region’s pronounced dry conditions will be exacerbated, yet again, by extremely low relative humidity, down to 6%, according to the NWS.
“Fire weather conditions will be elevated and likely critical at times,” the agency stated.
There were indications another tightening of pressure gradients may lead to more offshore winds toward the end of next week.
Last week, the Inland Empire largely dodged major wind-driven brush fires, experiencing only scattered brushers that scorched a few acres in places — nothing on the scale of the Los Angeles County infernos.
In the Riverside metropolitan area, high temperatures through the weekend will be in the mid to upper 60s, with lows in the low 40s. That temperature band will hold early next week, meteorologists said.
In the Coachella Valley, the highs through the weekend will top out in the low 70s, followed by overnight lows in the upper 40s, and that trend will be largely unchanged Monday and Tuesday, while in the Temecula Valley, the daytime mercury will be in line with Riverside metro, but nighttime temps will drop into the mid 30s over the next few days.