Gusty winds, dry conditions and warm temperatures have brought critical fire weather conditions for much of the state of California.
- Northern California
Critical Fire Weather conditions are expected Thursday for portions of the Sacramento Valley. Winds gusting as high as 45 miles per hour will only worsen the concerns for rapid fire development. Also, afternoon relative humidity values of 5-15 percent will be common across the area.
- Southern California
For the southern half of the state, their fire weather conditions are much worse. For that reason, they are under Extremely Critical Fire Weather conditions. Strong Santa Ana winds are expected to begin later this evening into Friday morning.
What's causing these winds are strong offshore pressure gradients. They will help drive these very strong winds through the higher terrain and foothills of Los Angeles, Ventura and portions of Orange/Riverside counties.
Keep in mind the relative humidity is expected to fall below 5 percent in many of those locations. So, that's strong winds plus extremely dry conditions and these extremely critical conditions appear likely to continue on through the overnight and into Friday morning.
