The region, plagued by wildfires, expects a small amount of rain, offering some relief from extreme fire danger. However, the risk persists due to anticipated wind and low humidity.
Southern California, ravaged by a series of destructive wildfires in recent weeks, may finally see a respite from the extreme fire danger as a small amount of rain is forecast to arrive late Friday through early Saturday. This welcome change in weather follows a prolonged dry spell that has fueled deadly and destructive blazes across the region. While the anticipated rainfall, though modest, will provide some relief, the region is not yet out of the woods when it comes to fire risk.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service extended a red flag warning, originally set to expire at 10 p.m., until 8 p.m. Thursday due to an anticipated increase in wind coupled with persistent low humidity. The forecast predicts under a third of an inch of rain for Los Angeles County, which has been particularly hard-hit by the Palisades and Eaton fires this month. Eastern San Gabriel Mountains and other areas could potentially receive slightly higher rainfall amounts, according to Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. 'Obviously, it's going to be very welcome to get some sort of moisture here,' Lewis said. 'In terms of ending the fire season, it's probably not going to be enough for that. But it'll certainly help a little bit.' The potential for rain, though beneficial for mitigating dry conditions, also raises concerns about mudflows and landslides within burn scars. Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes Pacific Palisades, expressed her concerns. 'I normally pray for rain. God knows we generally need it,' Park said. 'The burn scar of the Palisades fire not only sits feet from the ocean itself, but on hillsides that are already prone to slide and which have already absorbed a tremendous amount of water from firefighting, broken pipes and melted pools.' 'Adding water to this mess ... is the last thing we need,' Park said.In response to the impending rainfall and its potential hazards, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order on Tuesday to reinforce burn areas and prevent the flow of toxic debris. The city's Public Works Department is set to install barriers, remove debris, and divert runoff from the stormwater system into the sewer system for treatment. 'This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,' Bass said during a news conference on Tuesday. Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the weather service, stated that the likelihood of heavy rainfall triggering landslides is low. 'I mean, it would have to be just, like, the worst of luck,' Wofford said. 'First of all, we'd have to get some convection and it would have to form just in the right area.' Additionally, the rainfall would have to occur at a rate significantly faster than anticipated for a landslide to occur. When intense rain falls rapidly, the soil absorbs water quickly and eventually reaches a saturation point, leading to instability. 'If a quarter-inch fell in 30 seconds then, yes,' Wofford said. 'But if it falls over hours then it's definitely not an issue.' As the region prepares for the rain, the National Weather Service's warning of a 'particularly dangerous situation' with extreme wind gusts ended Tuesday morning for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. This marked the fifth time the weather service had issued an alert this season for acute fire conditions. A red flag warning remains in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday, with wind gusts expected to pick up again Wednesday afternoon, peak Thursday morning, and ease by Thursday night, according to the weather service. On Monday morning, a gust of 88 mph was recorded in the western San Gabriel Mountains at Magic Mountain Truck Trail. Wind gusts reached 70 mph in the Santa Susana Mountains on Monday afternoon, Lewis said. Dry conditions are expected to persist, with humidity levels below 10%, until the rain arrives over the weekend. Humidity levels in the Eaton fire area were 3% on Tuesday morning, said James White, a meteorologist working on the fire. 'It's almost impossible to be drier than that,' he said. A fire weather watch will remain in effect from Tuesday evening through Thursday evening, with forecasters warning of Santa Ana winds and very low relative humidity for large parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Relative humidity levels are predicted to remain low — between 5% to 10% — across most of the area in the coming days, White said. Thousands of people across Southern California were without power on Tuesday as Southern California Edison implemented public safety power shutoffs to mitigate wildfire risks associated with its equipment. Roughly 9,200 SCE customers in Los Angeles County are without power, and another 45,800 customers are potentially facing these power shutoffs
FIRE WEATHER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES RAIN RED FLAG WARNING SANTA ANA WINDS PUBLIC SAFETY POWER SHUTOFF
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