Red Flags And Possible Blackouts Pushed Back To Wednesday Morning
Written by 991KBU on September 8, 2020
…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM WEDNESDAY TO 8 PM PDT
WEDNESDAY FOR THE COASTAL AREAS OF VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES DUE TO
GUSTY SANTA ANA WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITY..
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It’s cool this morning … relatively.
Of course … yesterday at sunrise it was 100 degrees up in the mountains above Malibu.
But it will warm up again tonight … as Santa Ana winds of up to 45 miles per hour may sweep into part of the local area.
A very strong pressure gradient … very high pressure over Bakersfield … very low pressure over the coast … is setting up.
Translation: Santa Ana winds will sweep in this afternoon and evening.
The winds will peak tonight with gusts up to 45 miles an hour in the windiest parts of Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains.
Up along the 5 freeway at the Grapevine … 55 miles per hour.
When will the winds arrive??
After sunset … maybe as late as three in the morning here in Malibu.
Peak winds will probably hit us tomorrow just before sunrise.
But the weather forecasters at the Southern California Edison company are saying the high winds could arrive as early as nine p-m tonight.
Edison is warning of P S P S blackputs … Public Safety Power Shutoffs … as eartly as 9 p-m tonight.
The worry area right now is from Zuma Canyon west to Point Mugu.
SCE is warnign that a PSPS blackput could start any time between 9 tonight and 9 tomorrow morning.
No blackout may be ordered … and other areas may be added.
It’s up to the weather and the power company.
And other areas might lose power due to equipment failures.
The warning period ends at 9 am Wednesday, but if there is a PSPS, it may take longer than that for power to be restored.
Until two years ago, state regulations required SCE to keep power on in all circumstances, and design its overhead wires to withstand 92 mile per hour wind gusts for three seconds. But in 2018, the California Public Utility Commission gave power companies carte blanche to kill circuits to prevent wind-driven fires.
After Malibu and other cities protested, that too much decision-making power was granted to SCE, the CPUC changed the law. The agency also required the company to better notify the public, and also work faster to restore power.
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Los Angeles County firefighters are working alongside other agencies on the eastern part of the county … where the giant Bobcat brushfire is churning thru the San Gabriel Mountains east of Mount Wilson.
The Santa Anas tonight here is western L A County will mean extra patrols and engines here.
But they could drive the Bobcat fire down into several cities east of Pasadena.
Monrovia, Arcadia, Bradbury, Sierra Madre and Duarte have been warned to be on “high alert” and prepare for possible evacuation.
Owners of horses and other large animals had to begin moving them somewhere safe.
Ash from the blaze rained down along the 210 Freeway … the Pasadena area.
It was spotted on cars as far west as Malibu this morning.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District to issue a smoke advisory for the foothill communities and into the Santa Clarita Valley through Monday, warning of unhealthy air for sensitive people.
The big issue for today … air quality wise … is how the approaching Santa Anas will disperse smoke from both near and far into our local area.
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That falling ash may contain toxic chemicals, including some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals such as arsenic or lead, that can be released from burned materials.
The South Coast AQMD warns not to rely on dust masks for protection.
Paper “dust masks” can block large particles, like ash, but do not protect your lungs from the small particles or gases in wildfire smoke.
N-95 masks are better … but in short supply die to the COVID pandemic.
The ground level ozone peaked at 200 parts per billion — well above the average healthy amount of 70 parts per billion.
And speaking of COVD … breathing a great deal of ash or smoke has been linked not only to increasing the chance of the disease … but increased severity of the symptoms.
AQMD recommends that you not clean up ash yourself if you have lung or heart problems, and never use leaf blowers to blast it away.
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You may have heard that the national forests around Southern California have been closed due to fire danger.
That does not include national Park hiking trails … only national Forests.
In fact … hiking trails in the Santa Monica Mountains reopened last night.
They had been suddenly closed … Sunday morning … after a hiker collapsed and died in the heat Saturday.
First the state parks .. then the national parks … then the MRCA trails were closed Sunday.
One again .. there was no apparent coordination on handling the network of recreational facilities in the mountains above Malibu …. with each agency doing its own thing.
And the closure came after the death …. and several rescues … occurred Saturday.
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