Gusty Santa Ana winds bring high fire risk and power shutoffs across Southern California

A red flag warning was in place Wednesday for the Inland Empire and Valley areas of Southern California as unusually strong, dry Santa Ana winds created optimal weather conditions for wildfires to develop and spread.

The combination of strong winds, low humidity and dry air is “prime fire weather” when mixed with dry vegetation, NWS meteorologist Sebastian Westerink said.

Due to the elevated fire risk, Southern California Edison temporarily shut-off power in high-risk service areas across parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties — impacting approximately 38,016 customers by early afternoon Wednesday. The preemptive public safety power shutoff aims to reduce the risk of power lines igniting fires in communities with low rain levels and dry landscapes, Southern California Edison spokesperson Gabriele Ornelas said.

Conditions will continue to be monitored for improvement, with power expected to be restored by Thursday.

While red flag warnings were issued for most of Los Angeles County, the San Gabriel Mountains and San Fernando Valley in particular were at risk due to the widespread and long-lasting Santa Ana winds this week.The conditions in these areas were described as highly volatile, with 30 to 40 mph winds and gusts up to 70 mph expected to continue into Wednesday night.

Downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and the San Gabriel Valley will not be as impacted, with winds between 15 to 30 mph. By Thursday, expect conditions to remain pretty breezy and very dry with a little less wind, NWS meteorologist Mike Wofford said.

In Orange County, northeast winds between 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph are projected over the next two days in inland areas such as Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana. The Inland Empire will see similar weather conditions, with 20 to 30 mph winds and gusts around 55 mph, including the cities of Corona, San Bernardino, and Lake Arrowhead, Westerink said.

Motorists on the 210 and 15 Freeway, as well as the 10 and 60 highways, should exercise extra caution when driving through this windy period as blowing debris — usually trash, has the ability to obscure a driver’s vision, San Bernardino County Fire Capt. Eric Sherwin said. He also recommends checking on outdoor pets and ensuring they have fresh, clean water on these particularly dryer days.

Due to the windy weather, the fly-in portion of Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital’s 24th annual Cops for Kids Fly-in was canceled. Helicopters from the Riverside and Ontario police departments, the San Bernardino and Riverside County Sheriff’s Departments, and the California Highway Patrol would normally land on the hospital’s north lawn as children watched, but the high winds posed a couple of problems, Riverside police pilot Ian Crocker said.

“We ran into a problem with winds blowing ash and dust off the mountains,” he said, prompting officials to cancel the outdoor portion of the event where the children would see the police vehicles. The wind direction would have also made the approach and landing difficult, he added.

Even so, officials still planned to circle helicopters above the hospital for the children to watch through the hospital windows.And the officers still planned to show up in a caravan of vehicles and deliver thousands of presents to the children, Crocker said.