After short reprieve, heat and fire weather to return in SoCal
Starting Monday, the weather service expects another week of hot and dry weather favorable for abnormally elevated fire behavior and growth in inland areas. 'Sundowner winds' — warm and dry gusts that typically blow from the deserts out to sea during the evening but are more isolated than the infamous Santa Ana winds — could further fuel any fire ignitions along the I-5 corridor.
It comes just days after a lengthy heatwave powered multiple fast-growing fires, including the 132,000-acre Gifford fire in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and the King and Hawk fires in L.A. County.
On Wednesday and Thursday, crews working on the Gifford fire capitalized on the cooler, humid weather to undertake an extensive backfiring campaign, using fire to intentionally burn strips of vegetation to create a fuel break to contain the blaze along the northern perimeter.
By Saturday morning, crews had upped containment to 73%, compared to 37% Tuesday, thanks to the nearly 5,000-person crew's backfiring operations and aerial attacks.
'We're still not out of the woods, but we're getting closer,' said Rich Eagan, public information officer with the California Interagency Incident Management Team overseeing the fire. 'To control a 131,000-plus-acre fire in two weeks is pretty incredible.'
It's allowed the team to begin reducing its size and mopping up the fire — ensuring no hot spots or smoldering embers remain on the scorched landscape to restart a blaze.
The King fire erupted early Thursday morning along the 5 Freeway, near Pyramid Lake, amid gusts as high as 30 mph. It burned two unoccupied RVs and threatened to jump the freeway several times, forcing officials to temporarily close all lanes. But by Friday evening, crews managed to reach 75% containment on the nearly 600-acre fire.
Firefighters on the Hawk fire, which started Thursday afternoon southwest of Palmdale, reached 76% containment Saturday morning.
All remaining evacuation warnings for the two fires were lifted Friday morning. Meanwhile, large swaths of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties remained under evacuation orders and warnings Saturday.
But, with six blazes still active in southern and central California, temperatures are expected to peak again by Thursday, topping 100 degrees in some inland areas.
The weather service also warned of a high risk for heat-related illnesses for pets and heat-sensitive individuals beginning on Wednesday, with Palmdale, Santa Clarita and Paso Robles expected to see the highest temperatures.
It did not indicate any possibility of red flag fire conditions, a designation reserved for the most extreme combinations of dryness, heat and wind that can lead to extensive wildfires that are difficult to control.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Downgraded Hurricane Erin lashes Caribbean with rain
Offshore Hurricane Erin was downgraded to a Category 3 storm early Sunday, as rain lashed Caribbean islands and weather officials warned of possible flash floods and landslides. The first hurricane of what is expected to be a particularly intense Atlantic season, Erin briefly strengthened into a "catastrophic" Category 5 storm before its windspeeds weakened. It is expected to lash several Caribbean islands with heavy rain and strong winds but not make landfall. Hurricane Erin was located about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 0600 GMT, when it was gauged as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC). "The core of Erin is expected to pass to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas tonight and Monday," the NHC said in its latest report, noting that it anticipated additional fluctuations in the storm's intensity. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Turks and Caicos Islands, while the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the southeast and central Bahamas were advised to monitor its progress. Hurricane Erin had reached the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale just over 24 hours after becoming a Category 1 storm, a rapid intensification that scientists say has become more common due to global warming. It could drench isolated areas with as much as eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain, the NHC said. "Fluctuations in intensity are expected over the next day or two due to inner-core structural changes. Erin is becoming a larger system," the agency said. It also warned of "locally considerable flash and urban flooding, along with landslides or mudslides." - Climate hazard - In Luquillo, a coastal town of Puerto Rico, surfers rode the swells while beachgoers milled about the shore on an overcast Saturday before the storm approached, AFP images show. Swells generated by Erin will affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands during the next couple of days. Those swells will spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the US East Coast early next week, creating "life-threatening surf and rip currents," the NHC said. While meteorologists have expressed confidence that Erin will remain well off the US coastline, they said the storm could still cause dangerous waves and erosion in places such as North Carolina. The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June until late November, is expected to be more intense than normal, US meteorologists predict. Several powerful storms wreaked havoc in the region last year, including Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people in the southeastern United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- which operates the NHC -- has been subject to budget cuts and layoffs as part of US President Donald Trump's plans to greatly reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy, leading to fears of lapses in storm forecasting. Human-driven climate change -- namely, rising sea temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels -- has increased both the possibility of the development of more intense storms and their more rapid intensification, scientists say. bur-mlm/lb/pbt
USA Today
40 minutes ago
- USA Today
Powerful Hurricane Erin could mimic damage from earlier hurricanes that stayed offshore
Dozens of hurricanes have made a similar trek in recent years, testing the nerves of millions who wait to see if the storms are destined to make any sharp left turns or wobbles toward the coast. Hurricane Erin, with powerful winds of more than 160 mph on August 16, is expected to take a path familiar to many as the massive storm moves northward parallel to the United States coast. Dozens of hurricanes have made a similar trek in recent years, testing the nerves of millions who wait to see if the storms are destined to make any sharp left turns or wobbles toward the coast. Even when they don't brush the coast or make landfall, such storms can be deadly and cause millions of dollars of damage. Erin is expected to remain hundreds of miles offshore, according to the National Hurricane Center, part of the National Weather Service. As of 5 p.m. Aug. 16, Erin is forecast to be centered roughly 600 miles east of Savannah on Aug. 20. But because Erin is growing both in size and intensity, chances are increasing that it will still create rough conditions at sea and along beaches as it moves northward off the coast, the weather service says. Many lives have been lost during hurricanes that remained well offshore but created rough surf or deceptive conditions that can disguise hazardous rip currents. Over a 10-year period, about 10 to 15% of all deaths in tropical storms and hurricanes were attributed to rip currents, according to the hurricane center. That's one reason behind a new public safety campaign NOAA launched earlier this year – "Blue IQ." Erin and past storms also clearly demonstrate how dependent we are on overhead weather patterns to steer tropical storms and hurricanes away from the coast. Examples of these patterns include the jet stream and a ridge of high pressure over the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Bermuda High. What's the chance Erin could veer closer to the coast? While the paths of many previous hurricanes have made wobbles or turns toward the coast, as Superstorm Sandy did in 2012, it's unlikely in this case, forecasts say. The hurricane center's skill at predicting storms – especially large, well-formed hurricanes – has improved significantly in recent years. That's thanks in part to the years of federal science data that have been collected and fed into computer models that assist the center's hurricane specialists in plotting forecasts. The weather service, including the hurricane center, "has done a pretty darned good job over the last five years of predicting the path of storms," said Rob Young, director of the program for the study of developed shorelines, a joint venture with Duke and Western Carolina universities. In March 2025, the hurricane center announced its 2024 track forecast performance was the best in its history. Through Aug. 21, the locations along the U.S. East Coast with the greatest risks of tropical storm force winds are Nantucket, Massachusetts, and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where the center lists the risk at 6%. Cape Hatteras has only a 1% chance of experiencing hurricane-force winds and both locations have only a 1% chance of hurricane-force winds. 'Storms like this can be beach eaters' Because Erin is growing in size, it's increasing the risks for coastal erosion, rip currents and hazardous conditions at the coast, the weather service said. Meteorologists are already warning beachgoers and mariners to pay attention to conditions and forecasts as Erin approaches the offshore waters. The hurricane center warns Erin's swells are expected to affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos through August 17. Swells are then expected to spread into the Bahamas, Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast by August 18 and are likely to create life-threatening surf conditions and rip currents. "These storms that stay offshore like this one is expected to do can still impact over 1,000 miles of coast with waves and a little storm surge," Young said. "They're unlikely to knock down homes, unless those homes are already in the water." Such at-risk homes could include structures in southern St. Johns County on Florida's east coast and homes on a section of North Carolina's Outer Banks. "Storms like this can be beach eaters," Young said. "Storms like this can really chew up the sand," including on renourished beaches, even if the storms never come ashore, he said. "Erin may still do what some folks would call damage to the beaches on the order of tens of millions of dollars." Which storms took a path similar to Hurricane Erin? Dozens of storms have traveled north offshore, often curving completely away from the coast without making landfall in the mainland United States or in Canada, but some leave damage in their wakes, in the form of erosion, coastal flooding and even deaths from rough seas. These are some of the more notable storms: Hurricane Erin: The last time there was a Hurricane Erin was in September 2001. That Erin also traveled a northward path, farther offshore. A NASA satellite photo of the massive hurricane swirling offshore east of North Carolina and Virginia on September 11, 2001, also showed smoke trailing from the site of the attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers. Hurricane Bill: In August 2009, even though the hurricane was offshore of the U.S, two people died in large waves and rough seas: a 7-year-old girl in Acadia National Park in Maine and a 54-year-old in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, according to the hurricane center's after-storm report. The strong surf led to multiple rescues along the coast, as well as coastal flooding. The hurricane later made landfall in Newfoundland. Hurricane Joaquin: Joaquin looped in the Bahamas in late September and early October of 2015, and then traveled northeast. After sailing into Joaquin, the SS El Faro was lost at sea on Oct. 1 and ultimately sunk, killing 33 crew members. A weather system that developed over the Southeast tapped into a steady stream of moisture from Joaquin and created days of rain, while high tides from the hurricane's swells all combined to cause historic flooding in South Carolina, including in Columbia and Charleston, even though the hurricane remained offshore. Hurricane Lorenzo: Like Erin, 2019's Hurricane Lorenzo rapidly intensified and became a major hurricane. Even though it was centered much farther to the east in the Atlantic, Lorenzo created massive swells that caused "hazardous surf and rip currents along U.S. beaches for several days," the hurricane center said. Eight people died in the storm's rough surf and rip currents, four in North Carolina, one in Florida, two in New York and one in Rhode Island. What's a 'fish storm?' Many hurricane veterans jokingly refer to hurricanes and tropical storms that remain offshore as "fish storms," because they remain over the open ocean. However, Brian LaMarre, a veteran meteorologist who recently retired from the weather service, said this week there's "a great deal more than fish out there" given the dense shipping traffic and commerce networks offshore. Impacts from the waves and long-period swells can be "incredibly disruptive and can extend hundreds of miles outward from these ocean storm systems," LaMarre said. Track Erin's progress Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change and the environment for USA TODAY. She's written about hurricanes, tornadoes and violent weather for more than 30 years. Reach her at dpulver@ or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Downgraded Hurricane Erin lashes Caribbean with rain
Offshore Hurricane Erin was downgraded to a Category 3 storm early Sunday, as rain lashed Caribbean islands and weather officials warned of possible flash floods and landslides. The first hurricane of what is expected to be a particularly intense Atlantic season, Erin briefly strengthened into a "catastrophic" Category 5 storm before its windspeeds weakened. It is expected to lash several Caribbean islands with heavy rain and strong winds but not make landfall. Hurricane Erin was located about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 0600 GMT, when it was gauged as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC). "The core of Erin is expected to pass to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas tonight and Monday," the NHC said in its latest report, noting that it anticipated additional fluctuations in the storm's intensity. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Turks and Caicos Islands, while the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the southeast and central Bahamas were advised to monitor its progress. Hurricane Erin had reached the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale just over 24 hours after becoming a Category 1 storm, a rapid intensification that scientists say has become more common due to global warming. It could drench isolated areas with as much as eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain, the NHC said. "Fluctuations in intensity are expected over the next day or two due to inner-core structural changes. Erin is becoming a larger system," the agency said. It also warned of "locally considerable flash and urban flooding, along with landslides or mudslides." - Climate hazard - In Luquillo, a coastal town of Puerto Rico, surfers rode the swells while beachgoers milled about the shore on an overcast Saturday before the storm approached, AFP images show. Swells generated by Erin will affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands during the next couple of days. Those swells will spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the US East Coast early next week, creating "life-threatening surf and rip currents," the NHC said. While meteorologists have expressed confidence that Erin will remain well off the US coastline, they said the storm could still cause dangerous waves and erosion in places such as North Carolina. The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June until late November, is expected to be more intense than normal, US meteorologists predict. Several powerful storms wreaked havoc in the region last year, including Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people in the southeastern United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- which operates the NHC -- has been subject to budget cuts and layoffs as part of US President Donald Trump's plans to greatly reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy, leading to fears of lapses in storm forecasting. Human-driven climate change -- namely, rising sea temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels -- has increased both the possibility of the development of more intense storms and their more rapid intensification, scientists say. bur-mlm/lb/pbt
