What to Know
- A red flag warning expired for San Diego's mountains and valleys at 6 p.m. Friday
- A high wind warning expired at 2 p.m. Friday
- A red flag warning is issued when a combination of low humidity, warm temperatures and strong winds are expected to combine to cause fires to spread rapidly
- No SDG&E customers are without power now, but 4,561 customers are still under possible shutoff alerts
- The Los Angeles area was hit especially hard by the extreme weather conditions, leaving thousands of homes destroyed and at least 11 dead
Elevated fire weather conditions that had tens of thousands of San Diego County residents on edge for days began to temper late Friday, allowing for the expiration of a red flag warning and for power to be restored to thousands of San Diego Gas & Electric customers.
A red flag warning that initially went into effect at 4 p.m. Wednesday expired at 6 p.m. Friday as Santa Ana winds began to subside and some humidity was expected to return to the area, providing relief from fire conditions at least temporarily; another round of the gusty offshore winds that can fuel wildfires was expected next week, according to NBC 7's team of meteorologists.
Before the warning expired, San Diego County saw some wind gusts in the 70 mph range, and one 85 mph gust on Sill Hill that was the second strongest gust Friday in all of Southern California, NBC 7 meteorologist Greg Bledsoe said.
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The Julian, Pine Valley, Campo and Ramona areas saw strengthening winds. Drivers, particularly of high-profile vehicles, traveling on Interstate 8 near Banning Pass were expected to have difficulty.
Santa Ana winds have come and gone throughout the week, prompting SDG&E to issue two rounds of Public Safety Power Shutoffs that cut power to about 7,000 customers each time. By late Friday afternoon, the utility was beginning to restore electricity.
A few small fires sparked during the warning period but a staffed-up Cal Fire San Diego responded quickly and aggressively to ensure no blazes that erupted spread past a few acres.
Here's a look at the maximum wind gusts expected through Friday. Please stay safe and travel with care, we're all in this together 🚗💙🚚 pic.twitter.com/Dge8vAD5Si
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) January 9, 2025
SDG&E Power Shutoffs
SDG&E began the first round of power shutoffs Tuesday evening in anticipation of the powerful winds expected to ramp up overnight. Power was restored to about 7,000 customers on Thursday but outages were quickly reinitiated as Santa Ana winds again threatened San Diego County.
All power was restored to customers by 5:30 p.m. Friday, but SDG&E warned there is a possibility another power shutoff warning would need to be issued in the future if Santa Ana winds conditions shift, again.
PSPS are initiated to prevent energized power lines from going down and sparking a wildfire. SDG&E says its decision to cut power to customers is made based on a combination of factors that include weather monitoring and on-the-ground observations.
Those who need support amid the outages, including ice, Wi-Fi, charging stations and more, were advised to visit an SDG&E community support center.
Pine Valley resident Joan Birdwell had no cell phone service Friday, so she visited a community center to utilize their Wi-Fi and make phone calls.
"I don’t necessarily get frightened about it because we have SDG&E turn the power off, and I know a lot of people are upset about that," Birdwell said. "I’ve had relatives that have lost homes in wildfires, so for me, I feel much safer with the power off."
Sharon Akers moved to Pine Valley from Northern California where she experienced living through two wildfires.
"We’re prepared. We have our to-go bag. Again, we learned a lot up in Santa Rosa because we did have to evacuate up there," Akers said. "We made sure our cars are filled again having that to-go bag, making sure that you have the important papers that you need, so being prepared helps. It takes that anxiety away knowing that, 'OK, if we do have to leave, if we have to evacuate, these are the things we’re taking."
Caltrans on Tuesday notified the public that power shutoffs "can impact traffic signal operations, with signals initially flashing and potentially going dark after extended outages," a statement from the agency said.
According to the agency, signals will function normally for three hours after an outage begins, followed by "red flash" mode for an additional three to six hours and finally, if the outage last more than six hours, signals will enter "blackout mode."
During blackout mode, drivers must treat the intersection as a four-way stop. Stop and proceed only when it is safe.
School closures
The winds and power outages prompted several San Diego County schools to close this week. The San Diego County Office of Education announced schools in the following districts would be closed Friday:
- Julian Union Elementary School District
- Julian Union High School District
- Mountain Empire Unified School District
- Warner Unified School District
LA wildfires
The weather event that prompted the red flag warning for San Diego County was the same one that was causing widespread destruction in the form of several wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
On Friday, at least five wildfires burning in the area had killed at least 11 people and injured several others. Thousands of homes had been destroyed as the firefight entered day 3.
A state of emergency remains in effect for Los Angeles city and county and both state and federal resources have been granted to aid in efforts to control the blazes.
When two major fires, the Palisades and Eaton fires, erupted on Tuesday, wind gusts were so strong overnight that firefighting aircraft had to be grounded. Adding to the challenging firefight were water pressure issues that caused several fire hydrants to stop functioning in the middle of the night.
Much of Southern California has entered the moderate drought category as we enter 2025. The U.S. Drought Monitor attributed the change to above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation. It's estimated nearly 19 million Californians are in drought areas.
"As we know, Southern California is off to a very dry start to the water year (Oct. 1)," NBC 7 meteorologist Brooke Martell said. "Santa Ana winds are very common during January, but what isn’t common is how dry it is."
