Parts of Southern California Burning Again, Hot Dry Winds Fuel Blazes

Homes burn in San Juan Capistrano 
during southern California wildfires
that broke out on Friday

 Some of you might be surprised to hear of wildfires in southern California. Didn't it just rain there?

Well yes, it did, sort of. But the heaviest rain was well south of Los Angeles.  The city itself received just 0.06 on October 12. Most places north of L.A. didn't receive any rain at all..

So when the hot, dry Santa Any winds started blasting through the mountains and canyons of southern California Friday, so did the fires.

As ABC7 In Los Angeles reported on Saturday: 

"Firefighters are battling blazes in San Clemente, Malibu and Azusa. While forward progress has stopped with the Peak Fire in Azusa, the Norte Fire in Orange County and the Bryson Fire in Malibu have forced evacuations."

The Norte fire destroyed six homes in San Juan Capistrano and forced evacuations there and in nearby San Clemente. Two firefighters were injured. 

The area was ripe for fires. The thick underbrush around the area hadn't burned since 1950. 

Though hot, dry, windy weather continued on Saturday, this will thankfully be a relatively short-lived bout with those kinds of conditions. 

The weather will be calmer and somewhat more humid starting today.  Showers are forecast in central and southern California Wednesday and Thursday, including in areas that received no rainfall last week.

Let's hope that's the start of an El Nino rainy season, one that could prematurely and thankfully squelche southern California's autumn fire season.