High wind prompts warning of fire risk
Strong north to northeast winds in Los Angeles and Ventura counties prompted a fire warning Sunday from the National Weather Service.
The fire weather watch will remain in effect through Tuesday and possibly beyond, said Bill Hoffer, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
Offshore gusts are expected to increase tonight through Christmas morning, and Santa Ana winds may develop, the weather service said. With humidity levels forecast to fall into the single digits on Tuesday, residents should be on the alert for wildfires, Hoffer said.
A fire weather watch is less severe than a red flag warning.
The recent rain has decreased the fire risk.
“It moistens the soil and the vegetation, which would normally be dry, and it also raises the relative humidity,” Hoffer said.
Parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties are also in for high winds through Christmas Day, but a more thorough soaking has spared those areas from a fire warning, said Philip Gonsalves, a weather service forecaster in San Diego.
“If the fuels won’t burn, no amount of wind will make them burn,” he said.
But if humidity becomes dangerously low for an extended period, the vegetation could become dry enough to warrant a fire warning in the coming days, he said.
Santa Ana winds and dry brush combined to produce devastating wildfires throughout Southern California in October, destroying more than 2,000 homes. Another fire over Thanksgiving weekend claimed more than 50 homes in Malibu.
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