LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A red flag warning denoting a high risk of wildfire
was declared for much of the Southland today amid expectations that
thunderstorms will form over the region and shoot down bolts of dry lightning,
setting blazes that will spread rapidly because of high winds and bone-dry
vegetation.
In Los Angeles County, the warning will be in effect from 11 a.m. until
11 p.m. in the Antelope Valley, the Angeles National Forest and the county’s
mountain areas, according to the National Weather Service. Other Southern
California areas subject to the warning include the Los Padres National Forest
and the mountains of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
NWS meteorologists said an upper-level low south of the Channel Islands
is injecting mid-level moisture — and instability — across Central and
Southern California. As a result, “widely scattered thunderstorm activity is
expected,’ according to an NWS advisory.
“With a rather dry lower atmosphere, any thunderstorms that develop are
expected to produce little, if any, measurable precipitation,’ it said.
“Therefore, dry lightning is a concern through this evening.’
And with vegetation “approaching critical levels’ of dryness, “any
lightning strikes could ignite a fire and outflow winds (of between 25 and 35
miles per hour) could spread the fire quickly,’ the advisory warned.
One of the factors behind the issuance of a red flag warning is today’s
expected high temperatures, which will be more than 10 degrees higher than
Saturday’s in some areas.
The NWS forecast highs of 72 today, 68 Saturday in Avalon; 73 today, 71
Saturday at LAX and in Newport Beach; 85 today, 79 Saturday in downtown L.A.;
86 today, 79 Saturday in Long Beach; 87 today, 82 Saturday in Anaheim; 90
today, 81 Saturday on Mount Wilson; 92 today, 81 Saturday in San Gabriel; 93
today, 83 Saturday in Burbank; 94 today, 84 Saturday in Pasadena; 98 today, 90
Saturday in Lancaster; 99 today, 91 Saturday in Palmdale; and 100 today, 87
Saturday in Woodland Hills and Newhall.

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