SANTA CRUZ – For the second time in less than a month, weather officials are warning that an extreme wind event will lead to dangerous fire conditions on the Central Coast this week.
With forecasters predicting wind speeds ranging from 20 mph to 50 mph in high elevations and relative humidity that could dip into the single digits, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning Monday that includes all of Santa Cruz County. The call to stay alert for potentially devastating wildfires officially begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday — Election Day — in the province and across the country — and will extend until 7 a.m. Thursday.
“It’s a combination of the offshore winds and the dry conditions,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the weather service. “The main concern will be Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.”
The red flag warning means that critical fire conditions – where even a small spark could lead to a catastrophic wildfire – are likely imminent, especially in areas of the Santa Cruz Mountains where the grass is still very dry and winds are expected to gust the highest speed will occur. swipe through.
Gass warned the public against engaging in activities that could lead to ignition and highlighted the dangers of unsecured metal tow chains that are dragged from the back of moving vehicles and could spread layers of hot embers into dry brush along local roads.
“That’s one of the biggest causes of fire starts,” says Gass.
Utility company Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in turn announced it would step up fire protection efforts by planning a series of power safety shutdowns that could affect 20,000 customers in four tribal areas and 17 counties, including Santa Cruz. The first set of closures will not take place until 7pm on Tuesday at the earliest if weather conditions do not improve.
Jason Hoppin, a spokesman for Santa Cruz County, told the Sentinel on Monday that no polling places were included in the scope of the security shutdowns and that the election will proceed without a hitch.
“We recognize that Tuesday, November 5 is Election Day and we will do everything we can to ensure a smooth election process,” Teresa Alvarado, vice president of PG&E’s South Bay and Central Coast Region, said in a news release. “We began working with state and local election officials over a month (ago) to ensure the reliability of polling places and tabulation centers.”
According to PG&E’s outage map, available at pge.com/pspsupdatesCounty areas within the closure range include the upper region of Soquel Demonstration State Forest near Summit Road and sections adjacent to the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park along Eureka Canyon Road. According to the release, PG&E has notified customers who could be affected.
The red flag warning comes just a few days after the province experienced its first wet weather in weeks, although experts say that won’t be enough to provide a major buffer against dangerous fire conditions. A smaller wind event swept through the province Sunday and early Monday, Gass said, likely wiping out most of the moisture benefits gained over the weekend.
The wet weather system moved through the Central Coast area late Friday and early Saturday, bringing a light rain shower to the parched landscape, with Sentinel weather observers reporting 0.55 inches of rain in Ben Lomond and 0.45 inches in Soquel.
“We had quite a bit of rain last week,” Hoppin said. “But I think the concern is that the wind will dry out the water and make the fields vulnerable again.”
This vulnerability is nothing new, as county officials, firefighters and PG&E mobilized just a few weeks ago during similarly precarious low-humidity winds. Weather experts were on alert when strong winds exceeded 80 km per hour in mountainous areas a few days in mid-October as fire officials beefed up their workforces in anticipation of an emergency and PG&E implemented a series of safety shutdowns in heavily forested county regions.
But despite all the preparations underway, Hoppin said a fairly large number of residents experienced outages during the last storm due to downed power lines and falling branches, and that this upcoming event poses a possible recurrence.
“I expect there will be additional outages later (Tuesday) and Wednesday that are not related to the public safety outage,” he said.
Red flag warning
Where: Santa Cruz County and Central Coast.
When: Tuesday 11am to Thursday 7am.
Why: High winds will create critical fire conditions in the local landscape, which remains extremely dry.
Originally published: November 4, 2024 at 2:51 PM PST