The Santa Ana winds have returned, with extra oomph.
A powerful windstorm will blow Friday afternoon through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters expect the strongest winds will be Friday night into Saturday, with some gusts in the western San Gabriel Mountains getting as high as 80 miles an hour.
Other valley areas and the Santa Monica Mountains could get hit with 65 mile-an-hour gusts.
The current round of #SantaAnaWinds have diminished.
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) January 20, 2022
However, another round of stronger #SantaAnaWinds is expected Fri night-Sat. Wind gusts 50-70 MPH are likely with isolated gusts to 80 MPH. #cawx #lawind pic.twitter.com/50Goeyf1t9
"In stronger events, we get entire trees that can fall," said NWS Senior Forecaster Mike Wofford. "Power lines can be toppled in the stronger situation. So those are the primary things that we'd be concerned about."
The NWS Oxnard and San Diego offices have posted high wind warnings for the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, the Los Angeles County mountains, most of Ventura County, inland Orange County, the Inland Empire valleys and mountain ranges and the Banning pass.
The warnings extend from 3 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. There are also less severe wind advisories for the coast from Ventura County down through Orange County and in the San Gabriel Valley through Saturday afternoon.
Temperatures will plummet in some valleys Friday night, and the L.A. County Health Department has a cold weather alert posted for the Lancaster area through the weekend.
