SAN DIEGO — Santa Ana winds are expected to return to San Diego County on Thursday and Friday, raising the threat of wildfires in the region. The Southland is bracing for two days of high winds and low humidity.
The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning which will be in effect from 5 a.m. Thursday to 5 p.m. Friday in the county mountains and valleys.
Winds out of the east and northeast are expected to hit speeds of 25-35 mph by early Thursday morning, with isolated gusts up to 60 mph near mountain ridge tops. "A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior'' according to the NWS.
The winds should become calmer late Friday and their origin will shift to the west by Saturday, forecasters said.
Temperatures will be slightly cooler Wednesday, then heat up on Thursday and Friday before a cooling trend starts Saturday.
CalFire San Diego Public Information Officer, Thomas Shoots, says due to dry conditions, now is not the time to get the defensible space around your home ready.
"Please don’t clear the dead material this week," said Shoots. "We have had several fires just this season that have been started by people trying to do the right thing. They are trying to clear the dead brush around their property, but they end up striking a rock and starting a vegetation fire."
High temperatures could reach 85 degrees Wednesday near the coast, 92 inland, 95 in the western valleys, 86 in the mountains and 95 in the deserts.
Some areas expected to possibly be affected were Alpine, Barona,
Barrett Lake, Boulevard, Campo, Cuyamaca, Descanso, east Poway, East Valley Center, Julian, Mesa Grande, Mount Laguna, Palomar Mountain, Pine Valley, Potrero, Ramona, portions of Rancho Bernardo, Santa Ysabel, Shelter Valley, Viejas and Warner Springs.
All schools in Julian are closed Wednesday because of an unplanned outage that began around noon Tuesday, said Music Watson, a spokeswoman with
the San Diego County Office of Education.
The unplanned outage was reported at 11:57 a.m. Tuesday, affecting 1,619 customers in the Julian, Santa Ysabel, Banner and Pine Hills areas, according to an SDG&E online outage map.