After six consecutive days of record high temperatures compelling extensive wildfires in Southern California, people are already getting ready for a weather change. The state is now likely to receive below par temperature, rainfall and probably early snow in some parts that are far from the beaches of California unlike before with very high temperatures.
The National Weather Service gave certain areas of California its earliest snow alert in two decades, from summer to early fall conditions. This switch is expected to address the dale needed by firefighters putting out three big fires that have burned more than 115,000 acres in recent days singly.
In the regions of Southern California where the Bridge fire in the Angeles National Forest, or Line fire in San Bernardino line fire or the Airport fire that affected Orange and Riverside Counties the change in weather conditions has already helped quell the fires. Monday morning, the Bridge fire was 11% contained while the Line fire was 42% contained and the Airport fire is at 31%.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis, based in Oxnard said ‘It’s a pretty nice relief after that heat wave. ’ The decrease in temperature is due to two lows that brought temperatures 5 to 10 degrees below normal in southern California. These systems are due to produce bouts of light rain from Tuesday night through Thursday.
Majority of the regions in Los Angeles County are expected to record precipitation less than one-tenth of an inch while foothills may record up to one-fourth of an inch. It forecasted that coastal areas of the regions will be in mid to the upper 60s while the inland areas are expected to in the low to the middle 70s. The city is currently warmer than 112, and now the downtown of Los Angeles is 40 degrees cooler than that.
For locations in the higher elevations of Sierra Nevada mountain range from Fresno County to Yosemite, up to 3 inches new snow could fall through Monday. More snow accumulation may come from meteorologist Antoinette Serrato of Hanford’s National Weather Service, who said: “the low pressure is going to bring some pretty cold air coming down from the Arctic area.
Officials have indicated that the cooler weather is however likely to help in combating fires but this however does not mean that the general fire season is expected to be slow. Robert Foxworthy, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said this is actually a small blip within the fire season as a whole.
The most dangerous fire season is still to come in Southern California with increasing of Santa Ana winds. Firefighters are still being cautious especially at the territorial northwestern part of the fire known as the Bridge fire that is still very destructive to communities like Big Pines and Pinon Hills.
As californians change from summer to winter they are made a reminder of the dynamic weather conditions and the problem of wildfires in the state. But as it stands, meteorological conditions are not definitive where the fire season is concerned, and therefore Californians must remain ever alert when it comes to the numerous weather changes which are characteristic of the state.
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