A major windstorm could be the strongest in more than 10 years for some parts of Southern California, downing trees and knocking out power while also generating dangerous fire weather conditions amid ongoing drought in the region.
Fires are already erupting in parts of Southern California, including the Palisades Fire west of Los Angeles.
Preemptive power cuts are under consideration. Southern California Edison’s website says nearly 300,000 customers in Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties are under consideration for public safety power shutoffs. This is done when high winds could cause electricity infrastructure to be a threat to start wildfires.
The strongest winds since late 2011 are possible for some areas. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Los Angeles said wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph are likely, with some mountain and foothill locations seeing isolated gusts of 80 to 100 mph.
They noted that damaging winds are a big concern in Southern California, with the area outlined in magenta below located near and north of Los Angeles having the highest risk. It could be the strongest wind event in this area since November/December 2011, the NWS noted.
Downed trees and power outages are possible and there could be localized damage to structures. The peak winds from this event are expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday.
“Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warnings have been issued. The National Weather Service offices in Los Angeles and San Diego have issued their highest level of this warning type for at least part of this event. This means the fire danger is extreme and any wildfires that start could grow out of control quickly given the combination of high winds and tinder-dry conditions.
The particularly dangerous situation red flag warnings include much of Los Angeles and eastern Ventura counties as well as inland Orange County, the Santa Ana mountains, the Inland Empire and the San Bernardino mountain foothills.
Paltry rainfall so far this rainy season has placed Southern California in drought for the first time since February 2023. Rainfall in Los Angeles is just 4% of average since Oct. 1.
Red Flag Warnings
California expert weighs in on the extreme situation: The upcoming winds will act as an “atmospheric blow-dryer” for vegetation, bringing a long period of fire risk that could extend into the more populated lower hills and valleys, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
“We really haven’t seen a season as dry as this one follow a season as wet as the previous one,” Swain said during a Monday live-stream. “All of that extra abundant growth of grass and vegetation followed immediately by a wind event of this magnitude while it’s still so incredibly dry,” elevates the risk.
Santa Ana winds are caused by strong high pressure over the Great Basin region of the West creating a pressure gradient that amps up winds through the mountains, foothills and sometimes valleys of Southern California. In this case, the winds are getting a major boost from a strong upper-level low pushing southward across the state.
The Associated Press contributed to this portion of the report.
Chris Dolce has been a senior meteorologist with weather.com for over 10 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.