【Osawa Yuka Archives】

NBA star Lebron James fled his Los Angeles home early Monday morning as the wind-whipped Getty Fire consumed the city's dry brush.

But even more severe wind-driven fire conditions will likely hit burning Los Angeles and Osawa Yuka Archivesthe greater Southern California region on Tuesday night, lasting through Wednesday and Thursday. These winds blowing in from the vast eastern desert, called Santa Ana winds, will be the strongest of the season in some areas and at least as potent as the vigorous wind events of last week, explained National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Tardy in a video briefing Tuesday night.

"This presents itself as very high fire danger," Tardy said.

"Strong, damaging winds, long duration of low humidity and dry vegetation will make this a very critical event!" emphasized the National Weather Service's Los Angeles office.

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Though these California winds can grow exceptionally intense, they are common in the fall and winter, and continually blow dry air on already parched vegetation during each wind event, leading to ever more dryness. Then, all you need is a spark. And in a region rife with human activity, wind-whipped power lines, car fires, or the innocuous use of a hammer are readily available to throw a hot spark on the cracked, parched brush.

What's more, the Santa Ana winds — which get amplified as they swoop down mountains and through canyons — often arrive before the onset of California's rainy season, which at its earliest begins in October. Critically, by then vegetation isn't just naturally dehydrated, but this dryness is now enhanced by a relentlessly warming climate. This was the case last year during Northern California's explosive, deadly, and at times "tornado-like" wildfires.

Warmer climes, lack of rain, and persistently dry winds can mean record or near-record dryness for the region's fuels, aka fire-prone vegetation. Fuels in Southern California are now profoundly dehydrated.

"Fuel conditions are very dry, they’re now near record lows," noted the NWS's Tardy.

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Dry, howling winds have blasted both Northern and Southern California over the past week, and, on cue, dangerous flames have spread over the region. The Kincade Fire exploded in (often) idyllic Sonoma County wine country last Wednesday, a blaze that has expanded to over 75,000 acres with just 15 percent containment as of Oct. 29.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County firefighters are battling the Getty Fire, which on Monday forced the Interstate 405 — one of the most trafficked arteries in the nation — to close. Though significantly smaller than the Kincade and Tick blazes at some 618 acres, the Getty Fire prompted the evacuation of 10,000 structures including in some of the city's wealthiest enclaves. The L.A. Lakers' James fled from this fire, along with his family.

Amid extreme fire weather, evacuations, and flames, millions of Californians have also had to cope with the new 21st-century woe of intentional power blackouts to avoid aging, wind-damaged electrical lines from sparking catastrophic fires. In Northern California, over 2 million people (some 940,000 "customers") lost power when Pacific Gas and Electric cut power over the weekend, and likely over 1 million PG&E customers will promptly lose power again.

Down in Southern California, the utility Southern California Edison has some 205,000 customers under consideration for power blackouts.

The Golden State's recent fire hardships are part of an ever-worsening, sobering trend: Since 1972, the amount of land burned in California has increased fivefold.

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