A red flag warning indicating a high risk of wildfire was in effect today in the mountains and forests of Los Angeles and Ventura counties because of strong winds, low humidity, unseasonably high heat and dry vegetation.
(Contributed image)
The warning went into effect Sunday night and will remain in force until 4 p.m. today in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountain ranges, the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County and the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County.
There will also be an elevated risk of fire in other areas of the region, including the valleys, but it will not be extreme, said Oxnard-based National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Bruno.
The areas under red flag warning will be swept by Santa Ana winds of between 15 and 25 miles per hour gusting at between 30 and 40 mph, according to NWS forecasters. At the same time, the humidity will fall to between 6 and 12 percent, and temperatures will climb into the 90s, they said.
Meteorologists attributed the high heat to an upper-level ridge of high pressure that has teamed up with an offshore flow blowing close to the surface.
“This, in combination with critically dry fuels, will bring elevated fire danger to much of the region through Monday,” warned an NWS advisory, stating that the danger will be highest this afternoon.
The NWS forecast highs today of 74 on Mount Wilson,84 in Palmdale and Lancaster,86 in Avalon, 87 in Newport Beach, 88 at LAX,93 in Saugus, 94 inWoodland Hills and Anaheim, 95 in downtown L.A., Pasadena and Burbank,, and 96 in Long Beach and San Gabriel.
Temperatures will remain the same in the Antelope Valley Tuesday, but in most areas a cooling trend will get under way and temperatures will drop sharply. Downtown L.A., for instance, will go from today’s high of 95 to 84 Tuesday, 77 Wednesday, 68 Thursday, 64 Friday, when showers are expected, and 62 Saturday before a climb back to 68 on Sunday, according to an NWS forecast.
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