The Santa Ana winds raging in Southern California are hitting hurricane speeds in some areas, prompting weather officials to describe the fire conditions as “EXTREME.”
In fact, the National Weather Service described the winds and low humidity, which are expected to stick around until Friday, as a “Particularly Dangerous Situation.”
The NWS reports wind gusts have already hit 85 mph on the Magic Mountain Truck Trail, 74 mph on the Palo Sola Truck Trail and 73 mph in Browns Canyon.
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Those high winds, combined with humidity that could drop as low as 8% , create a fire danger that exceeds even the red flag warnings many Californians are accustomed to seeing.
“We have dry conditions, we have windy conditions,” said KTLA meteorologist Henry DiCarlo. “Not a big warm up with this Santa Ana event, but you only need two of the three to get fire concerns, and they’re certainly elevated.”
The fire danger has also resulted in the closure of Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Mulholland Drive and Pacific Coast Highway.