A rare “extreme red flag” warning has been issued in Southern California as the strongest Santa Ana winds of the season — reaching 80 mph — roll into the region amid raging wildfires, according to a new report.
The Los Angeles area began experiencing an unusually long Santa Ana wind condition around 11 p.m. Tuesday — and it’s expected to last for 30 hours, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The region hasn’t seen similar conditions since October 2007, when numerous large fires scorched more than 900,000 acres (1,400 square miles, or about 90% of Rhode Island), according to the report.
The National Weather Service labeled the ongoing conditions an “extreme red flag” warning, a term meteorologists there told the Times they don’t ever remember using.
NASA’s Terra satellite shows the smoke plume cascading down the coast from California’s Kincaid Fire.NASA/AFP via Getty Images“It’s going to be stronger than most Santa Ana conditions, in terms of the raw wind speed, and the long duration of the winds,” meteorologist Joe Sirard told the paper. “It’s kind of like when your skin starts to crack open — it’s going to be that kind of dryness. Very, very dry air coming in.”
The monster weather event is being fueled by frigid high pressure over the Rocky Mountains, experts say. Boulder, Colo., has a foot of snow on the ground and a temperature of only 9 degrees.
“This extremely cold air mass directly from the Arctic is sitting just to the east of California,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told the Times.
“And that is obviously a great contrast with the not-so-frigid air over California, and especially as you get closer to the ocean. That thermal contrast is setting up that strong pressure contrast, which is in turn driving these very strong winds.”
As of Tuesday morning, 11 significant active fires were ongoing in the Golden State — including the Tick, Getty and Saddleridge fires in Los Angeles County, and the massive Kincade Fire in Sonoma County.
The recent surge in fire activity is driven largely by strong winds and low humidity, Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean said at a Monday briefing, according to KTLA.
“This is, unfortunately, now California’s normal,” McLean said. “And it’s absolutely vital that everybody in this state be prepared for these weather events.”
