Another round of gusty winds began battering much of the Southland Thursday, with a potentially stronger Santa Ana wind event possible starting as early as Friday morning.
A “north wind event” settled over the region overnight, creating gusty conditions across most of the area. Winds of 35 to 50 mph were blowing in many areas, with higher elevations seeing gusts of 55 to 65 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The NWS reported a gust of 61 mph overnight in the western Antelope Valley foothills, 57 mph at Castaic Lake and 58 mph along the Golden State (5) Freeway corridor in northern Los Angeles County.
The winds, however, were expected to diminish later Thursday morning, ramping up again in some areas Thursday evening — but not to the level that was seen overnight.
High wind warnings that were in effect in many areas were allowed to expire at 9 a.m., but those warnings were replaced by less-severe wind advisories that will be in place until noon across most of the region. Forecasters warned that wind gusts topping 50 mph were still possible through the rest of Thursday morning.
On Friday, however, an offshore flow will trigger a strong Santa Ana wind event that is expected to continue into the weekend, with Saturday likely to see the most potent gusts.
“The most likely outcome in terms of wind speeds are expected to be 20-30 mph with gusts to 35-55 mph,” according to the NWS. “Isolated gusts to 55-65 mph are likely, especially across higher terrain. One of the limiting/driving factors in the peak wind speeds is the positioning of the cutoff low. If the upper level wind support is favorable (magnitude and direction), there is a potential for strong and damaging winds of 25-40 mph with gusts of 60-75 mph, with highest chances across the mountains.”
The Santa Ana event is expected to last into Sunday.
“For Friday-Sunday’s Santa Ana event, there again is a risk for downed trees and power lines (and power outages), as well as hazardous travel conditions across the typical Santa Ana wind corridor of LA and Ventura Counties,” forecasters said. “Blowing debris may also create further hazards on the roads … through the weekend.”
The Santa Ana winds will likely warm temperatures over the weekend, peaking on Sunday with most of L.A. County reaching the low to mid 80s, according to the NWS.