California Bracing For Ferocious, Destructive Winds And Extreme Fire Risk

Southern California is hoping to avoid a repeat of this
scene from November as the region gears up for the 
strongest Santa Ana winds in more than a decade 
amid tinder dry conditions. The normal winter'
rains have so far failed to materialize in SoCal. 

UPDATE: 3 p.m EST TUESDAY

Very ominously, large fires have already broken out in parts of southern California, and though its windy, the strongest winds and lowest humidity have yet to arrive,

The largest fire as of noon local time was burning in Pacific Palisades, and I can't keep up with how fast it's growing. Evacuation orders are in in place.

The fire looks to be heading into a heavily developed area, and news media seems to show at least a few houses already on fire.

People are being advised to avoid the Sunset Boulevard are near Pacific Palisades as fire crews are trying to get through to bolster firefighting efforts. 

This is going to get really, really bad.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Southern California should have hit their rainy season by now. 

The risk of wildfires should be relatively low as midwinter Pacific storms dampen the dry brush in the hills and mountains around Los Angeles and San Diego.

Instead, southern California is set to have its most ferocious Santa Ana windstorm in more than a decade starting today and peaking Wednesday. And since it hasn't really rained yet this winter in southern California, the fire risk is off the charts. 

Even if by some miracle no fires break out today or tomorrow, this is going to be a huge mess. Forecasters say many, many trees and power lines will snap in this storm, even in areas that are normally protected from these strong easterly Santa Ana winds. 

Meteorologists expect widespread gusts between 60 and 80 mph, with some areas gusting to 100 mph or  more. They describe the impending wind storm and fire risk as "life-threatening" and a "particularly dangerous situation."

Some of the communities most threatened by the wind are in expensive zip codes like Pasadena, Burbank, Hollywood, Sylmar, Simi Valley, Altadena and Malibu. 

The millions of people to be affected by the winds are being told to park cars away from trees, charge their devices and stay indoors and away from windows during the storm. 

More ominously, residents should have a "to go bag" with necessities like medication, insurance papers and other essentials by their front door so they'd be ready to flee in a moment's notice if a wildfires starts.

Power companies plan to shut off electricity in some vulnerable neighborhoods so that if power lines do fall, they won't arc and cause wildfires. Some roads in spots were fires are most likely will be closed to everyone except local residents to give fire trucks and other emergency vehicles easy access to the fires, and to leave room for people to flee in their cars. 

This is the third time this late autumn and winter that southern California has come under extreme risk from high winds and wildfires, though this threat is the worst of the bunch. A Santa Ana event led to a wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes in and around Camarillo, California in early November. 

Another Santa Ana storm on and around December 10 with gusts to 80 mph spread more fires and led to  evacuations in Malibu.  In that case, 48 homes were damaged or destroyed by fire.

Celebrities like Cher and Dick Van Dyke had to flee their homes, though their houses ended up being spared. (Van Dyke, just shy of his 99th birthday on the day of the fire, collapsed in his driveway as he tried to untangle a hose and evacuate.  Neighbors rescued him, and he quickly recovered).

Of the three Santa Ana windstorms and fire threats, the one that starts today and peaks tomorrow is by far the worst. 

Though mostly small wildfires are not unheard across southern California in January, usually the threat this time of year is mudslides from heavy rains.  With climate change, the wildfire season in California has expanded and now happens "out of season" during the increasing periods of drought the Golden State has been seeing. 

This threat will be strictly a southern California thing. Central and northern California has been hit be some fairly soggy storms so far this winter, so the fire threat up there is very low. Plus, northern California is not expecting the type of high winds that places like Los Angeles and San Diego counties are about to endure. 

The southern California fire threat is expected to ease by the end of the week. However, little or no rain is in the forecast for southern California until at least the third week in January.