Gusty winds, ‘very dry fuels’ expected to increase Northern California fire risk by midweek
Strong winds, low humidity and “very dry fuels” have elevated wildfire weather concern for Northern California later this week, while temperatures will cool back down to seasonally normal levels.
The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch, in place from 4 a.m. Wednesday through 7 a.m. Thursday for the northern Sacramento Valley and parts of the Bay Area.
The conditions have already spurred PG&E to announce a possible blackout, projected to begin Wednesday. In a statement late Sunday, PG&E said it could shut off power to about 250,000 customers in 19 counties across the Sierra Nevada foothills, northern Sacramento Valley and North Bay Area due to high wildfire risk.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meteorologists and the NWS each say gusts could reach as high as 50 mph locally at high elevations, while the NWS is warning of gusts up to 40 mph in the north half of the Sacramento Valley, near 30 mph in parts of the Sierra and around 20 mph in the North Bay.
Gusts could peak around 30 mph near Sacramento, according to the latest NWS forecasts. The capital region is expected to hit a high of 75 degrees Monday, then cool down to the mid- to upper-60s for the remainder of the week.
Just how dry is it in Northern California?
A U.S. Drought Monitor map released last Thursday showed that more than 80 percent of California is either “abnormally dry” (77.8 percent of the state) or in “moderate drought” (3.6 percent). The large abnormally dry patch includes virtually all of the Sacramento Valley, the central Sierra range and the greater Bay Area.
NWS Sacramento in tweets said rain and snow showers are possible over the Sierra south of Interstate 80.
But there’s no precipitation in the forecast this week for the Sacramento Valley. In the area included in the NWS fire weather watch, daytime humidity will stay in the “teens and 20s,” only recovering overnight to between 28 and 45 percent.
Some Sierra snow expected
The low-pressure system passing through Northern California is anticipated to bring light snowfall Tuesday night into Wednesday.
The NWS in a special weather statement said snow will mainly fall above 6,500 feet, with up to an inch falling near Carson Pass and between 2-4 inches falling near Highway 395 and on the Ebbetts, Sonora and Tioga passes.
Precipitation will stop by about Wednesday evening, but cold temperatures will create a possibility of refreezing the snowmelt, the NWS advises.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 8:58 AM.
