Tuesday will start out cool, with clouds along the coast. However, by the afternoon, offshore winds will become our weather story for the next couple of days.
A moderate to strong Santa Ana will build to our north Tuesday morning before spreading south into San Diego by the afternoon/evening. Winds will continue to build overnight before peaking Wednesday morning. Wind prone areas could see gusts stronger than 60mph. Even coastal areas could feel gusts of 20 to 30 mph.
The dry air coming off the desert will also drop our relative humidity down to around 15% on Wednesday, and possibly even lower for Thursday.
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The combination of strong, gusty winds, along with very low humidity and dry vegetation, will elevate the fire danger. As a result, a RED FLAG WARNING will be in effect from 4 a.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday. Any fire that starts has the potential to spread rapidly.
Some of the areas with the strongest forecasted winds include Oceanside, Ramona, El Cajon, Alpine, Campo, Mt. Laguna, Julian, Borrego Springs, and Ocotillo Wells.
Santa Ana winds are comon from September to March, but normally a January Santa Ana is not as dangerous because it is historically our second rainiest month of the year. However, this season is off to a very slow start, with just 0.14" of rain since October 1st. We are 96% below normal for the season. SD International Airport only had 0.01’’ of measurable rain for December, making it the ninth straight month with below normal rain. Much of Southern California is now in the Moderate Drought (D1) category as we go into this first full week of 2025. All of these forecast components elevate our fire weather threat Tuesday through Thursday.
Weather
The northern part of teh state has seen the opposite, with one of the wettest starts on record in some palces. Most of the storms this season have been targeting the central and northern parts of California with healthy amounts of snow. The northern sierra is at 166% of its normal snow for the season. Click here for a look at the latest report.
TUESDAY
- Coast: Mostly sunny - mid 60s
- Valleys: Sunny, PM Winds increasing - low 70s
- Mountains: Sunny, PM Winds increasing - low to mid 50s
- Desert: Sunny, PM Breezy - mid-70s
