SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After a stretch of hot weather with record breaking temperatures in the 90s, Northern California is bracing for another round of critical fire conditions.
Starting Wednesday and lasting until Friday, Oct. 23, a large portion of Northern California will be under a Red Flag Warning, including parts of the Valley, the Coastal Range and the Sierra. Relative humidity will be in the teens at times, with strong wind gusts up to 45 mph for the windy ridgetops, canyons, and passes. Vegetation is also very dry and will easily burn.
The peak of strongest winds should be very early Thursday morning and located mostly to the west of the Sacramento Valley and portions of the lower foothills of the Coastal Range. Some other pockets in the North Bay Area hills and Sierra will also see strong winds. October typically has a few offshore dry wind events, but this year has seen record heat for months and the dryness of the fuels and soil is especially low.
This dry windy pattern is taking hold for the West and many other states will have similar dangerous fire conditions in the days and weeks ahead. Another very dry and windy pattern looks to come back to Northern California from Sunday to Monday with the potential for even stronger winds.
