Ahead of Monday’s strong and potentially destructive Santa Ana wind event, the National Weather Service has issued another uncommon Particularly Dangerous Situation warning.
The PDS warning for Ventura and Los Angeles counties will go into effect Monday at 12 p.m. and last until Tuesday at 10 a.m., the NWS said on X. The public was advised by the NWS to get ready appropriately.
The wind event is predicted by the NWS to move swiftly on Monday, beginning in the L.A. County mountains in the afternoon and moving into the valleys and coastal regions by Monday evening or early at night.
The L.A. and eastern Ventura County mountains could be hit by wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph on Monday night and Tuesday early, according to the NWS. Many valley and coastal locations in these two counties might see gusts of 55 to 65 mph.
On Monday, Red Flag Warnings will go into effect.
A Red Flag Warning has been issued for a large portion of Ventura and Los Angeles counties from late Monday morning through Tuesday evening, including Pasadena, where the alert will be in place from 8 a.m. Monday through 6 p.m. Tuesday. This is in addition to the humidity dropping considerably to the single digits. There are also parking restrictions in place. You may read more about it here.
According to the NWS, these circumstances will result in “dangerous” fire weather. “New or existing fire ignitions will have a high risk for very rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior with long range spotting,” the National Weather Service stated.
Watch for Fire Weather
In these same regions, gusty offshore winds and extremely low humidity are expected to persist into Thursday. Wednesday evening through Thursday morning are predicted to have the greatest winds during this time, with gusts between 40 and 55 mph.
A Fire Weather watch has also been issued for the majority of these areas from late Tuesday evening through Thursday evening due to the possibility of ongoing Red Flag conditions.
High Wind Warnings
Additionally, the NWS has issued High Wind Watches for Ventura and portions of Los Angeles counties due to a “high risk of widespread damaging winds,” which will be in place from late Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning.
An upper low could bring lower temperatures, a risk of light rain, and mountain snow by Friday. Power outages, felled trees, and hazardous sea conditions might result from moderate to high gusts.
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Preventive actions are taken
With the third PDS expected in three weeks coming up, Governor Gavin Newsom sent more resources to Southern California on Sunday.
According to a statement from the governor’s office, Newsom prepositioned 170 fire engines, water tenders, people, and planes to the area in preparation for the strong gusts, which might exceed 100 mph in certain areas.
Together with the more than 790 firefighting personnel that Cal Fire sent, the additional resources will be prepositioned throughout Southern California. This contains 76 engines that are positioned ahead of the wind in Kern, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, and Los Angeles counties.
