At least two rounds of vicious, dry Santa Ana winds are expected to blast through Southern California early this week, bringing powerful gusts that will challenge fire crews struggling to contain two destructive blazes and likely force thousands more residents to evacuate.
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After a brief respite from the winds over the weekend, a shifting pressure gradient is set to send bone-dry gusts of up to 113km/h (70mph) through foothill communities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties from early Tuesday to Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service has issued a “particularly dangerous situation” warning – its most severe alert – for Malibu, the San Fernando Valley, and large portions of Ventura County, due to damaging winds and low humidity. More than 7.7 million people will face critical fire-weather conditions by Monday, the US Storm Prediction Centre said in an advisory.
Santa Ana winds occur when cold air from neighbouring states of Nevada and Utah moves west and then rushes down California’s mountains, heats up and dries out. The Washington Post likened the weather pattern to “a giant hair dryer”.
While the upcoming Santa Ana winds are not expected to be as strong as the windstorm that ripped through Los Angeles last week, areas under warning “will have a high risk for large fires with very rapid fire spread”, National Weather Service Lead Forecaster David Gomberg wrote in an update Sunday.
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