Several more days of breezy Santa Ana winds will help boost temperatures across the Los Angeles area this week, hitting possible record highs by mid-week.
“We’re forecasted to warm up the next couple days,” said Bryan Lewis, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. “By Wednesday, much of the L.A. Basin will be in the 80s.”
Those summer-like temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees above average for this time of year, which could set some records, Lewis said.
The warm weather is expected to persist through at least Friday, as are gusty Santa Anas, affecting primarily the region’s “wind-prone corridors,” he said. Last week, similarly high winds pushed over a tractor trailer on the 5 Freeway near Pyramid Lake.
While gusts aren’t expected to be as high as they were last week, wind advisories remain in effect through at least Monday afternoon, warning of gusts up to 40 mph for much of northern Los Angeles County and eastern Ventura County. Those advisories will likely be extended through the rest of the week, Lewis said.
“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects,” the advisories said. “Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.”
The high winds “will continue with little variation through the end of the week,” Lewis said, mostly affecting passes throughout the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, as well as areas of the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.
While the dry, offshore wind pattern known as the Santa Anas has historically helped fuel major fires across the region — most notably the Palisades and Eaton fires this time last year — the fire risk this year remains quite low.
“It’s not really a concern right now — much different than a year ago,” Lewis said. “All the fuels are too wet to really catch fire.”
But the recent rains do mean that soils remain wet, which can leave trees more vulnerable to high winds.
