Three large wildfires broke out in Los Angeles County Wednesday morning, burning homes and businesses and producing extremely strong winds and gusts of up to 99 miles per hour, reports said.
The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of 99 mph near Altadena at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday. 98 mph near Woodland Hills at 9:37 p.m. 134 mph at Hollywood Burbank Airport at 8:30 p.m.
Officials said this is not a typical Santa Ana wind phenomenon, but it certainly brings dry offshore winds to the area. Forecasters warned that the event could be accompanied by weather events that could produce short-lived but highly destructive winds. Its effects were expected to be felt especially in the San Gabriel foothills and valleys.
“Yamanamikaze” activity occurs when gusts of wind move rapidly down mountain slopes and then intensify as they hit flat terrain, causing “brief bursts of very strong and dangerous winds,” the NWS said. meteorologist Rich Thompson said before the first of three fires in 2013. The Palisades Fire broke out in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday.
He said this could be the largest storm of its kind since the 2011 storm that caused severe damage in Pasadena, Altadena and other San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods, leaving more than 400,000 people without power for days. He said there is. The 2011 storm caused at least $40 million in damage, according to preliminary estimates.
“If it were to occur, it could cause very unique damage,” Thompson said before the fire broke out this week. “Imagine things like waves in water. … Those winds travel down the slope and then hit the ground and become very strong.”
Winds picked up Tuesday night, making air raids against the wildfire impossible. Just before 8 p.m. Tuesday, severe winds forced crews to ground the plane as they battled the Palisades Fire.
About two hours earlier, the Eaton Fire broke out in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon. At 8:45 p.m., officials announced they had canceled the evening’s aerial coverage of the Eaton Fire due to high winds.
The lack of rain has extended the fire season in Southern California. Since October 1, the start of the Year of Water, 0.16 inches of rain has fallen in downtown Los Angeles, a fraction of the 4.64 inches of average precipitation for downtown to this point in the season.
In contrast, Northern California does not face this much fire weather and has above average precipitation. Downtown San Francisco has received 10.39 inches of rain since October 1, which is higher than the city’s average rainfall of 9.29 inches for this time of year.
“Southern California experienced a particularly hot summer with very little precipitation during the normal rainy season,” said Alex Hall, director of the Center for Climate Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. “And all of this comes on the heels of two very wet years, which means there’s plenty of fuel for potential wildfires.”
The Bureau of Meteorology announced just after midnight Wednesday that extreme fire conditions were expected to continue until mid-afternoon Wednesday. “Once wildfires occur, they are likely to spread rapidly due to extreme fire behavior,” the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Another Santa Ana-like event is expected Friday. But the NWS expects winds to become “more typical,” predicting winds from the northeast “to be concentrated along the typical Santa Ana wind corridor from the Santa Clarita Valley to Point Mugu.” He said there was. …downhill winds also reduce humidity and increase fire risk. ”
The Bureau of Meteorology warned that winds would be “unstable with gusts, but lulls between gusts”.
Ahead of Tuesday’s fires, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for “particularly dangerous conditions”, warning of extreme fire weather conditions, or PDS for short. The National Weather Service issued the same warning about a month ago when the Franklin Fire ignited and spread rapidly in the Malibu area. The fire continued to burn more than 4,037 acres, destroying 20 buildings and damaging 28 more.
National Weather Service infographic explaining red flag warnings for particularly dangerous conditions.
(National Weather Bureau)
And a month earlier, red flags were raised regarding particularly dangerous conditions on Election Day. The next day, on November 6, a wildfire broke out in Ventura County, destroying more than 240 buildings, fanned by strong winds. The fire was Southern California’s third deadliest wildfire since 2013, burning 19,904 acres.
This type of red flag warning is expected to occur on average once every three to five years. But the National Weather Service office in Oxnard has issued three such warnings this fire season alone. The office issues weather forecasts for Los Angeles County, as well as Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties.
Prior to November, the last time the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for particularly dangerous conditions for Los Angeles and Ventura counties was in 2020, and 2020 was the first time a warning was issued for the area. Ta. This type of warning was issued twice in 2020, once in October and once in December.
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