A round of Santa Ana winds is increasing fire danger across San Diego County this week, prompting possible power shut-offs and some school closures on Wednesday.
School closure for Nov. 6
Schools in the Mountain Empire School District will be closed Wednesday due to high winds, according to the San Diego County Office of Education.
Travel to and from school becomes dangerous and difficult during high wind events, especially for high-profile vehicles and school buses, the office wrote on X.
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School Closure Alert: Schools in the Mountain Empire School District will be closed Wed., Nov. 6 due to high winds, which make travel to and from school challenging, especially for high-profile vehicles like school buses. Updates to be provided, as needed.
— San Diego County Office of Education (@SanDiegoCOE) November 6, 2024
Possible power shut-offs
San Diego County's far East County residents may have their power shut off as early as Wednesday morning. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has alerted 24,700 customers in the area that they may have to shut off power to reduce wildfire risk.
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The agency first sent the alert on Tuesday, adding that there would be no anticipated impacts to polling or ballot counting locations for Election Day. SDG&E began notifying customers who are most at risk of a power shut-off via phone, text messages and email. If you were contacted, be prepared to be without power through Friday, the agency said. If a power shut-off occurs, crews plan to restore power as quickly as safety allows.
State regulators have approved these Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) as an important last-minute safety tool to reduce fire risk during dangerous weather conditions, according to SDG&E.
The dry, offshore winds will build throughout the day and peak Wednesday evening through Thursday morning. San Diego valleys will see gusts of 35 to 40 mph, with the strongest gusts in the eastern valleys. San Diego's mountains and some inland valley locations could see gusts of close to 50mph, NBC 7 Meteorologist Brooke Martell said.
The NWS has issued Red Flag Warnings for inland and coastal San Diego County and Orange County valleys and mountains through Friday morning. Expect moderate strength Santa Ana winds to arrive Tuesday night through Thursday evening.
Relative humidity will get down below 15% in some places and fuel moisture levels are critically low, despite getting the little rain last weekend. All of those factors will combine for severe fire danger, Martell said.
The Red Flag Warning is expected from 3 p.m. Wednesday to 7 p.m. Thursday for the inland valleys. A Red Flag Warning is also in effect for our mountains including Palomar Mountain from 3 p.m. Wednesday until 11 a.m. Friday.
This is will be a fairly short-lived event. Winds will begin to decrease by later Thursday morning, Martell said.
Winds will gradually weaken Thursday afternoon into Friday with lingering gusts of 35 to 45 mph possible Thursday night into Friday morning for our mountains, the NWS said.
Temperatures for Wednesday:
- Coast: sunny - breezy offshore - low to mid-70s
- Valleys: RED FLAG WARNING - mid to upper 70s
- Mountains: RED FLAG WARNING, cool temps - mid 50s
- Desert: breezy, mid 60s
