Red flag warning issued as Northern California hot weather, fire danger takes hold
Parts of the Bay Area will be under a red flag warning beginning Wednesday night, the National Weather Service said.
The warning covers parts of the East Bay hills and the North Bay interior mountains, and begins at 11 p.m. and includes the parts of Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties. The warning was also in effect for the northern Sacramento Valley, including Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Shasta, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo and Yuba counties.
The NWS said that hot, dry, and windy weather combined with mixed vegetation will lead to critical fire weather conditions until Thursday morning. Wind gusts could exceed 40 mph in some of the higher elevations, and some ridge tops could see gusts around 60 mph.
Due to the critical fire weather conditions, Pacific Gas and Electric warned that Northern California customers will likely see power shutoffs Wednesday and Thursday in multiple counties. The red flag warning was expected to end by 9 a.m. Thursday.
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Northern California was entering a stretch of warm to hot, dry weather lasting through at least Saturday, with the hottest day of the week expected on Thursday, forecasters said. A heat advisory was also issued for the East Bay and San Francisco Bay Shoreline, North Bay interior mountains and valleys, and the Santa Clara Valley and Eastern Hills. The advisory also applied to parts of the Central Coast and Central Valley and was to be in effect from noon Thursday throught 11 p.m. Saturday.
In the Bay Area on Tuesday, daytime highs were expected in the low 70s to mid 80s on the coast, the mid 80s to mid 90s around the bay, and beween 90 and 103 degrees inland. Along the Central Coast, coastal areas were to see temperatures in the 60s to upper 70s, while the inland Central Coast are expected to see highs between the mid 80s to 105 in parts of Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties.
