High wind watch this week means possible power outages across Northern and Central California
The National Weather Service issued a high wind watch that will last from Sunday night to Tuesday night and affects much of Northern California, including most of the Sacramento Valley.
NWS meteorologists warn that wind gusts could exceed 75 mph in some areas of the Sierra Nevada over the next few days, and the Valley is expected to see up to 50 mph gusts.
The Sacramento Valley is under the high wind watch from Stanislaus County in the south up to Redding and including some limited areas of northern Shasta County. All but the easternmost edge of Sacramento County is included as well, along with some parts of the northern Sierra Nevada.
Weather service forecasters say the high-speed winds could cause some damage in the affected areas.
“The winds are expected to be strong enough to damage trees and cause power outages,” NWS officials wrote in the high wind watch alert. “The strongest winds are still expected to be Monday night and Tuesday over most of the area.”
Wind gusts in Sacramento could hit 45 mph, while in Stockton they may reach a bracing 60 mph. Grass Valley’s forecast calls for 35 to 40 mph gusts and South Lake Tahoe could see gusts of 60 mph as well.
Late Saturday night, Pacific Gas & Electric warned about the possibility of a so-called public safety power shutoff for 21,000 customers in Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Madera, Mariposa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Tuolumne counties.
The utility said an engineered interruption of power may come due to “increased risk for damage to the electric system that could ignite fires in areas with dry vegetation.”
PG&E said it did not expect shutoffs to occur in the Sacramento region or the Bay Area due to recent rains and higher humidity levels.
Warmer temperatures will also predominate over the weekend across the region. The Sacramento area was well above its normal temperature Saturday, mostly in the high 60s when its average for this time of year is closer to the mid-fifties.
Many temperature reporting sites in Northern California, including Sacramento Executive Airport and downtown Sacramento, “have a decent shot at tying or breaking their records” for daily high temperatures, meteorologists wrote in a Saturday forecast discussion.
And indeed, records were set. Sacramento Executive Airport hit 70 degrees even, breaking a 2014 record by a single degree. Downtown Sacramento tied a 2014 record of 71 degrees.
Stockton also broke a 2014 record by a wider margin. Hitting 72 degrees, it passed by its old 69-degree milestone.
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 4:59 PM.