Extremely critical fire weather conditions are forecast for southern California today with critical fire conditions forecast to persist through at least Friday. Sustained offshore winds of 20-40 miles per hour are expected in portions of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernadino counties with gusts up to 60 miles per hour. Relative humidites are forecast to drop to 5 -15 percent with low fuel moistures and high temperatures in the eighties. While extremely critical conditions are forecast for a relatively small area of southern California covering approximately 3,600 square miles, the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center (SPC) estimates that nearly 2.5 million people will be under extreme fire weather conditions today in southern California.
Fire Weather Conditions
Extremely critical fire weather conditions indicate that upon ignitions fires will spread quickly and will be difficult to contain and suppress.
Critical fire weather conditions will be present over a larger swath of southern California as well as northern California. Locations expected to experience critical fire weather conditions include Sacramento, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, and Glendale. The SPC estimates approximately 9.2 million people will experience critical fire weather conditions today.
Fire Weather Outlook today. Pink – Extremely Criitical risk; Red – Critical risk; Orange – Elevated risk. Source: NOAA/SPC
Extremely critical and critical fire weather conditions were present on Wednesday in northern California, prompting utility shutdowns to avert wind driven ignitions. As of the morning of October 10 several small fires were reported in the region with isolated evacuations in place.
This report was compiled with integrated information from the public agencies listed below. Regional conditions can vary depending on local weather conditions. Interested parties can monitor the sites below for updates and developments, and statements from these sites supersede this update.
