Fire Weather Watch

Locations Affected

Los Angeles, CA ∙ Long Beach, CA ∙ Santa Clarita, CA ∙ Glendale, CA ∙ Pasadena, CA ∙ Pomona, CA ∙ Oxnard, CA ∙ Thousand Oaks, CA ∙ Torrance, CA ∙ Simi Valley, CA

Headline

Widespread damaging north to northeast winds and long duration of red flag conditions likely over many portions of los angeles and ventura counties between tuesday and thursday -- possibly extending into friday...
red flag warning in effect for much of los angeles county and southern ventura county mountains/eastern ventura county valleys from 10 AM tuesday to 6 PM thursday -- fire weather watches remain thursday night into friday...
fire weather watch remains in effect for ventura county coastal plain and northern ventura mountains from 10 AM tuesday to 6 PM friday...
fire weather watch remains in effect from 6 PM tuesday to 8 PM wednesday for the los angeles coast, palos verdes, and catalina island...
while there is still some uncertainty in this week's strong wind event and corresponding humidity levels at the onset, there is growing confidence for a widespread strong/damaging north to northeast wind event with an extended period of dangerous red flag conditions. while the longer duration of strong winds is expected to be focused across los angeles and ventura counties, there is a 20-30 percent chance of shorter duration red flag conditions across portions of santa barbara and san luis obispo counties.
with widespread damaging winds likely from tuesday afternoon into wednesday across portions of los angeles and ventura counties, there will be an increased risk for downed trees and powerlines, as well as power outages. there is also the potential for moderate to strong north to northeast winds for the la county coast, (especially hollywood hills, beverly hills, and sepulveda pass) extending into palos verdes and catalina island tuesday evening into wednesday, resulting in the fire weather watch for these areas. there is a high probability of strong mountain wave wind conditions during the peak of the event tuesday afternoon into wednesday, which could bring strong/damaging winds to areas that typically do not see strong winds, including portions of the san gabriel valley and san fernando valley. fire weather watches have been converted to red flag warnings in the tuesday through thursday time frame for areas where there is highest confidence of reaching critical red flag thresholds.

Full Alert Message

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard CA 240 PM PST Sun Jan 5 2025 Widespread damaging north to northeast winds and long duration of red flag conditions likely over many portions of los angeles and ventura counties between tuesday and thursday -- possibly extending into friday... red flag warning in effect for much of los angeles county and southern ventura county mountains/eastern ventura county valleys from 10 AM tuesday to 6 PM thursday -- fire weather watches remain thursday night into friday... fire weather watch remains in effect for ventura county coastal plain and northern ventura mountains from 10 AM tuesday to 6 PM friday... fire weather watch remains in effect from 6 PM tuesday to 8 PM wednesday for the los angeles coast, palos verdes, and catalina island... while there is still some uncertainty in this week's strong wind event and corresponding humidity levels at the onset, there is growing confidence for a widespread strong/damaging north to northeast wind event with an extended period of dangerous red flag conditions. while the longer duration of strong winds is expected to be focused across los angeles and ventura counties, there is a 20-30 percent chance of shorter duration red flag conditions across portions of santa barbara and san luis obispo counties. with widespread damaging winds likely from tuesday afternoon into wednesday across portions of los angeles and ventura counties, there will be an increased risk for downed trees and powerlines, as well as power outages. there is also the potential for moderate to strong north to northeast winds for the la county coast, (especially hollywood hills, beverly hills, and sepulveda pass) extending into palos verdes and catalina island tuesday evening into wednesday, resulting in the fire weather watch for these areas. there is a high probability of strong mountain wave wind conditions during the peak of the event tuesday afternoon into wednesday, which could bring strong/damaging winds to areas that typically do not see strong winds, including portions of the san gabriel valley and san fernando valley. fire weather watches have been converted to red flag warnings in the tuesday through thursday time frame for areas where there is highest confidence of reaching critical red flag thresholds. ...fire weather watch remains in effect from tuesday evening through wednesday afternoon for moderate to strong north to northeast winds and low relative humidity for los angeles coast extending into palos verdes and catalina island... * winds, most likely outcome-moderate to strong north to northeast winds tuesday night into wednesday with sustained winds of 20 to 35 mph and potential damaging wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph. strongest winds likely in the hollywood hills, beverly hills, sepulveda pass, palos verdes extending into catalina island. * relative humidity, most likely outcome-humidities likely falling to between 20 and 30 percent in many areas by tuesday afternoon, then widespread 15 percent or less potentially tuesday night into wednesday. there is also a chance of localized single digit humidities on wednesday. * impacts, if fire ignition occurs, conditions are favorable for very rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior, including long range spotting, which would threaten life and property. there will be the potential for downed trees and powerlines, as well as power outages. precautionary/preparedness actions... a fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are likely to occur in the coming days. residents near wildland interfaces should prepare now on what to do if a wildfire breaks out. see readyforwildfire.org and wildfirerisk.org for information..

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