Fire Weather Concern Remains in the Southwest

20 Jan 2021, 8:00 am

On Monday and Tuesday, the Southwestern United States broke record high temperatures with highs in the 90s for some areas! A well established ridge of high pressure was responsible for the strong down-sloping winds that brought the record highs. This ridge will gradually break down over the next few days and temperatures will return to near average, along with the chance for some well needed rain. However, with dry soils and strong winds still expected over the next 24 hours, the fire weather conditions will still remain.

High Winds & Coastal Alerts

Winds will still remain gusty and possibly damaging over the next 24 hours. In the valleys, north winds of 20-35 mph and gusts up to 50 mph will be possible. In the mountains, northeast winds up to 45 mph with gusts between 55 to 80 mph are possible. On Tuesday, some gusts were as high as 95-120 mph across the state!

High wind warnings are in effect in yellow and wind advisories are in effect in brown. Gusts as high as 80 mph are possible.

Fire Weather Concern

With strong winds in the forecast and low relative humidity, Red Flag Warnings are in place through today (Wednesday).

An elevated fire weather risk exists for coastal southern California, including the Los Angeles area.

We will be tracking this warm weather and fire weather forecast on WeatherNation so check us out for free on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire and PlutoTV on Channel 217.

About the author

Mace Michaels

Mace was born and raised in Minnesota, where his intrigue for weather and broadcasting grew at a young age. His 30 years in broadcasting have taken him all across the Midwest and in the South. During high school and college, Mace first worked at a number of radio stations which helped pay tuition bills and get him ready for a career in television. His first TV Meteorology job was in Wausau, WI, fo... Load Morellowed by stops in Grand Rapids, MI, Fort Myers, FL, Tampa, FL, Cedar Rapids, IA and then across the country on WeatherNation. Mace is one of our Digital Meteorologists, posting weather stories on our website and social media accounts. He is also a game-day Meteorologist for the Minnesota Twins.