LA County fires continue as high wind and red flag warnings return
As the destructive wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles County, weather officials have issued a new round of red flag warnings with another round of Santa Ana winds once again expected to slam the region.
As firefighters worked to continue gaining containment of the Palisades Fire burning near the coast, and the Eaton Fire burning farther to the east, a round of high wind warnings that were supposed to expire Saturday evening got pushed until Sunday at 2 p.m. in most of the mountain ranges across the county, including the Santa Susana Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains, Mount Wilson, Mount Baldy and Wrightwood, among others.
According to the National Weather Service, some wind gusts running from north to northeast could average between 25 and 40 miles per hour, with strongest gusts reaching 65 mph.
Officials advised that the wind could blow down trees or power lines, and that widespread power outages may be possible.
On top of the winds, NWS extended an already lengthy red flag warning through Wednesday next week due to the increased fire danger presented by the dry climate and powerful wind.
Some periods of winds between 15 and 30 mph could also feature gusts up to 50 miles per hour, while parts of the San Gabriel, Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains could see winds that reach 70 mph. Strongest winds are likely through Saturday evening and Sunday morning and again Monday heading into Tuesday.
The warning was issued for most of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, the latter of which has been decimated by wildfires after the worst windstorm of the last region caused to brush fires to expand at a devastating rate.
"At least a brief break in the extreme fire weather conditions are likely by Friday with significantly increased humidity and lighter winds with a 20 percent of very light rain next week," NWS said.
Paired with the winds and low humidity are lingering concerns of poor air quality presented by the immense amount of smoke blanketing the skies over Los Angeles. Last week, similar issues caused multiple school districts to cancel class for all campuses.