A spell of hot, dry weather and strong Santa Ana winds will intensify wildfire hazards in eastern San Diego County over the Thanksgiving holiday period, forecasters advised Monday.
Due to the combustion dangers posed by the gusty, arid and unseasonably toasty conditions, the National Weather Service upgraded its fire weather watch to a red flag warning, effective from early Thursday morning through late Friday afternoon in the local mountains and inland valleys.
Combining with the heat to generate critical wildfire weather conditions over the period will be sustained winds of 20-30 mph out of the east -- with gusts of 40-60 mph in some locales -- and humidity levels as low as 10%.
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The strongest winds will occur on Thursday, the NWS reported.
“As we head into Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, that high is going to move in," NBC 7 meteorologist Sheena Parveen said. "It’s going to give us our Santa Ana winds. We’re going to dry out, it’s going to warm us up but it’s going to elevate the fire threat more than it was this past Sunday and Monday.”
“Travel weather looks fine aside from those Santa Ana conditions," Parveen said.
Those winds will then dissipate considerably and become more isolated on Friday, though high temperatures will remain 5 to 15 degrees above average through the weekend and into early next week.
