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No weather break in sight for fire-ravaged SoCal
A burned car sits next to the remains of a home destroyed during the Palisades Fire on Wednesday as fires continue to devastate the region.
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Eric Thayer
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The winds that are fueling major fires around Los Angeles are expected to die down from the extremes clocked late Tuesday and early Wednesday morning. But they’ll remain strong enough to be dangerous in the coming days, according to Alex Tardy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“We still are going to have 20 to 40 mile per hour winds with local gusts to 50 miles per hour in those same troubled spots like the Eaton Fire and Inland Empire foothills tonight, all the way through Thursday, and probably even Thursday night,” Tardy said.
Plus, the winds have sucked moisture out of the air, making conditions even drier than they were when the Palisades Fire broke out.
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Why it matters
”We remain in the red flag conditions for those reasons all the way through Thursday evening,” he said, referring to the warning that indicates fire danger, and encourages residents to remain alert. Some parts of SoCal may get a break from the wind a bit earlier, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters say another Santa Ana wind event is on the way Friday, with the strongest winds expected in the Santa Clarita Valley west to Point Mugu.
How strong are the winds?
During a Santa Ana wind event like the one we’re in now, gusts tend to be strongest right below mountain slopes because air from the east blows into and over the mountains, magnifying the downwind speed.
Here are some of the top wind speeds clocked by the NWS this week:
- 94 mph in Fremont Canyon near Irvine Lake (Jan. 8, 3:51 a.m.)
- 92 mph in Arrowhead Springs in the San Bernardino foothills (Jan. 8, 3:10 a.m.)
- 90 mph at Magic Mountain Truck Trail east of Santa Clarita (Jan. 8, 2:30 a.m.)
- 83 mph in Rancho Cucamonga (Jan. 8, 1:00 a.m.)
- 80 mph in Deer Creek Canyon in Malibu (Jan. 7, 10:15 p.m.)
Any rain in the future?
Unlikely, at least in the short term, Tardy said. The current weather pattern is likely to send precipitation east to the Rockies and over Texas rather than SoCal.
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“ We keep getting missed, is the bottom line,” Tardy said of this winter’s storms. “It's like someone who can't throw strikes.”
The latest on the wildfires
For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Do you have a question about the wildfires or fire recovery?
Check out LAist.com/FireFAQs to see if your question has already been answered. If not, submit your questions here, and we’ll do our best to get you an answer.
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