The National Weather Service office for Los Angeles / Oxnard is warning that critical fire conditions will continue through Thursday and Friday with a Red Flag Warnings up while fires continue to burn out of control.
A strong high pressure system over parts of the Northern Intermountain Region and Great Basin will continue to set up Santa Ana winds over Southern California. Therefore, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center has issued a Critical Risk of fire weather over parts of Southern California through Thursday. Winds of 20 to 40 mph, with stronger winds in the terrain, low relative humidity, and dry fuels have contributed to the dangerous conditions.
Dangerous fire weather conditions will persist through Friday as fuels remain extremely dry fuels and ready to burn, with Thursday the period of greatest concern. Any fire that starts can grow fast and out of control. Red Flag Warnings have been extended through 10am Friday.
Northeast winds will strengthen and expand either tonight or Thursday morning, with winds peaking on Thursday. Peak wind gusts of 35 to 50 mph will be common over much of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, with local gusts of 50 to 65 mph in the favored mountains. Meanwhile, extremely low humidity levels will persist with minimums under 10 percent over much of the area and poor overnight recoveries. While the winds will gradually weaken and shrink in coverage Thursday Night through Friday morning, the National Weather Service says pockets of gusty winds and widespread extremely dry conditions will maintain Red Flag Warning conditions through Friday morning.
More than 30,000 people are under new evacuation orders tonight as a large fire burns out of control north of Los Angeles. Known as the “Hughes Fire”, it started around 10:30 am in Castaic and exploded into a 3,400 acre within 2 hours. Now, fire officials say the fire has spread to more than 9,000 acres. This fire is one of three major fires burning around the Los Angeles area. About 31,000 people are under evacuation orders with another 21,000 under evacuation warnings.
Fires have also struck the San Diego area too. A Bernardo Fire broke out this morning, prompting people to be evacuated in the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego earlier today. By lunchtime, all evacuation orders and warnings were lifted except for a single zone. But fire officials are warning people in the region to stay on-guard should they need to flee to safety should fires spread or start up.
