Los Angeles prepares for another event in Santa Ana with gusts up to 100 mph

As residents affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires slowly returned to their homes — or wherever their homes were — another dangerous wind event in Santa Ana is expected to begin Monday and is expected to bring isolated gusts of up to 100 mph.

Firefighters continue to benefit from a calm weather forecast, thanks to low clouds and good humidity. Containment on the Palisades Fire increased to 52%, while containment on the Eaton Fire increased to 81%. But the National Weather Service warned that expected winds this week mean “conditions are favorable for extreme fire behavior and rapid fire growth, which would threaten life and property.”

A familiar red flag warning was issued for Los Angeles County from 8 a.m. Monday morning until 2 p.m. Tuesday. According to the NWS, “a red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are currently occurring or will occur shortly. Be extremely careful with anything that can start a wildfire. Residents near wildland interfaces should be prepared to evacuate if a wildfire breaks out.

Forecasters took the rare step of issuing a “particularly hazardous situation warning,” an extreme designation beyond a red flag warning, for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties Sunday afternoon in due to damaging Santa Ana winds and very low humidity. This region is outlined in purple below and runs along the edges of the two existing fires.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week sought to highlight the designation, noting that such warnings had been issued four times in the past three months. The first preceded the Ventura Mountain Fire in which 243 structures were destroyed. The second preceded the Franklin Fire in Malibu in December, where 20 structures were destroyed. The third preceded the Palisades and Eaton fires, which destroyed nearly 15,000 homes and counting. The fourth was the second round of winds in the past week that fanned these fires.

The Severe Hazardous Situation Warning is in effect from noon Monday to 10 a.m. Tuesday for the Santa Clarita Valley, San Fernando Valley including Calabasas and Agoura Hills, Malibu Coast, California State Recreation Area western Santa Monica Mountains, the Interstate 5 corridor, the San Gabriel Valley and the north. from Highway 210, including Altadena and Glendora.

Here is part of the discussion on the NWS forecast:

NE winds will blow in the mountains a few hours before dawn. During the morning, after sunrise, the winds will pick up and move from the mountains to the Vlys and then to the coast. Gusts will begin to increase and reach warning levels during the day. Maximum gusts across the csts/vlys will be between 55 and 65 mph and the mountains will see frequent gusts of 60 to 70 mph with local ridge top winds reaching 70 to 90 mph. These winds will be oriented in the typical NE direction of Santa Ana. This direction will bring the greatest MTN wave potential to the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Vlys.

Winds will peak Monday evening and overnight and extend into Tuesday morning before upper support diminishes and the SFC graduates begin to ease.

FORECAST WIND SPEEDS FOR MONDAY EVENING:

Forecasters say isolated gusts of 80 to 100 mph are expected in most wind-prone mountain areas, such as the San Gabriel Mountains, western Santa Monica and Santa Susana.

And it won’t be the end.

According to the NWS:

Gusty onshore winds and widespread very low humidity will continue later Tuesday night into Thursday in much of these same areas. The strongest winds during this period are expected Wednesday evening through Thursday morning, with gusts in the 40 to 55 mph range. Minimum humidities are expected to be generally between 3 and 13 percent, with very low nighttime recoveries. Due to the possibility of continued fire warnings, a fire weather watch is also in effect for most of these areas from Tuesday evening through Thursday evening.

Officials are urging residents to review their evacuation plans and ensure emergency kits contain the necessary items if they need to evacuate.

The city of Los Angeles said red flag parking restrictions would go into effect at 8 a.m. Monday and remain in effect until further notice.

Ironically, the National Weather Service’s latest forecast also calls for “a 60 to 70 percent chance of rain next weekend, with about 40 percent of sets showing rain accumulations of more than half an inch over the most of the coast and valleys.

This could pose another challenge to recovery efforts and potentially create mudslides in recent burn scars and, as Mark Pestrella, head of the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, warned earlier this week, runoff potentially toxic.

“Both areas have had watershed damage, burned to the point where we expect massive debris-laden flows when it rains,” he warned. “In the event of significant rain, we expect all streets and communities to be affected by debris flows which could be hazardous to human health. To address this issue, we are developing plans to capture and retain this debris as much as possible during a rain event.

Pestrella said his department is “assessing the impact to the flood control system” in the Palisades and Altadena areas. He said his ministry is “already deploying work forces to the region to ensure that the flood control system is ready – as well as our road network – as much as possible for this rain event.” »

City News Service contributed to this report.