Thunderstorms were forecast for the Los Angeles area Saturday that could linger over mountainous areas Sunday. But after Hurricane Kay made landfall in Mexico this week, it quickly downgraded to a tropical storm and weakened further until it was largely gone, said John Dumas, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Weather Service in Oxnard, California, adding scattered rain that fell on the area is residual moisture from a storm. “Is the worst over? Yes,” Dumas said. In Southern California, cool temperatures and humidity brought respite to firefighters battling the massive Fairview wildfire about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Los Angeles, after sweltering heat sent temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in many locations this week. The fire has threatened more than 10,000 homes and other structures, but firefighters have made progress and said they expected full containment on Monday.
Thousands of homes are threatened in the North
Fire officials warned, however, that Northern California communities remain at risk from heat wave and wildfire conditions and that there is a chance of lightning Sunday in the Northern Sierra. In the foothills east of Sacramento, the Mosquito Fire spread to at least 134 square kilometers on Saturday, threatening 3,600 homes in Placer and El Dorado counties and blanketing the area in smoke. “We’re not seeing a corresponding drop in fire activity at this point,” said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Issac Sanchez. Firefighters said Saturday they have so far been unable to contain any part of the Mosquito Fire, which has burned near the town of Foresthill, home to about 1,500 people. David Hance was sleeping on the porch of his mother’s mobile home in Foresthill when he woke up to a bright red sky early Wednesday and was told to evacuate. “It was really scary, because they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s coming,’” she said. “It was like sunset in the middle of the night.” The fire has blanketed much of the area with smoke, and California health officials urged people in the affected areas to stay indoors where possible. The cause of the mosquito fire remains under investigation. Pacific Gas & Electric said unspecified “electrical activity” occurred near the report of the fire Tuesday. A police officer watches as heavy equipment boosts waves and tides from a tropical storm in Long Beach, California on Saturday. (Ringo HW Chiu/The Associated Press)
The heat wave to end, but the floods watch in their place
The US National Weather Service predicted an end to the debilitating heat wave in the Los Angeles area on Saturday. A flood watch remained in effect for upland areas previously charred by wildfires through the end of the day, and there was the potential for some coastal flooding due to high surf, Dumas said. In Southern California, officials in coastal cities put up warning signs and distributed sandbags to residents, fearing flooding. Minor flooding was reported in a beach parking lot and on some local roads in desert communities around Palm Springs. A firefighter uses a torch to light backfires while battling the Mosquito Fire in Volcanoville, California on Friday. (Fred Greaves/Reuters)
Historic heat wave
September has already produced one of the hottest and longest heat waves on record in California and some other western states. Almost 54 million people were hit with heat warnings and advisories across the region this week as temperature records were broken in many areas. Scientists say climate change has made the West hotter and drier over the past three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. Over the past five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive wildfires in the state’s history. WATCHES | Californians experience power outages as heatwave pushes power grid to brink:
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