Members of the Ornelas family put on plastic raincoats as wind and rain hit the area on Friday, September 9, 2022, in Julian, California. A tropical storm near Southern California has brought intense mountain winds, high humidity, rain and the risk of flooding to an area already dealing with wildfires and an unusual heatwave. (AP Photo / Gregory Bull)
Gregory Bull / AP
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Gregory Bull / AP
Members of the Ornelas family put on plastic raincoats as wind and rain hit the area on Friday, September 9, 2022, in Julian, California. A tropical storm near Southern California has brought intense mountain winds, high humidity, rain and the risk of flooding to an area already dealing with wildfires and an unusual heatwave. (AP Photo / Gregory Bull)
Gregory Bull / AP
SAN DIEGO – Parts of Southern California were hit by high winds from a tropical storm Friday, bringing high humidity, rain and possible flooding to the arid but also promising region. Expect cooler temperatures after a 10-day heat wave that almost overwhelmed the state’s electrical system.
Firefighters feared extreme winds of up to 100 mph (161 km/h) could expand the massive Fairview Fire that’s burning about 75 miles (121 km) east of Los Angeles men but instead, the teams have made significant progress and see Monday as the day they should be full of containment measures. More than 10,000 homes and other structures remain under threat and evacuation orders are still in place.
Hurricane Kay made landfall near Mexico’s Bahia Asuncion in the state of Baja California Sur on Thursday, but it quickly weakened to a tropical storm by the time it reached Southern California. Still windy, intense in many places – speeds reached 109 mph (175 km/h) on San Diego County’s Cuyamaca Peak, the National Weather Service said.
Tropical conditions have added to a sweltering heatwave that sent temperatures soaring above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in many parts of California this week. Even places like San Diego, famous for its mild climate, get grilled in the heat.
Late Friday morning, a steady downpour of rain poured down downtown San Diego as Charles Jenkins swept accumulated puddles off the tarps of his makeshift home.
“The heat is the killer, so now this feels good,” says Jenkins. “I just hope the water doesn’t get too high. But I’ll fix this. I have pallets that I can put underneath to keep out the rain.”
Around 1 p.m. as the rain continued, a Navy contract twin-engine aircraft carrying two civilian pilots skidded off the end of the runway after it touched down at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado and landed on a sand. Coronado Naval Base spokesman Kevin Dixon said the nose of the plane was damaged, but the pilots were able to disembark on their own and were taken to the hospital for observation.
Although rainfall is generally moderate across Southern California on Friday, there is a chance of individual thunderstorms and downpours Saturday. When flooding is likely, officials in coastal cities have posted warning signs in low-lying areas and made sandbags available to the public.
September produced one of the longest and hottest heatwaves on record in California and several other western states. Nearly 54 million people have been warned and warned for heat across the region this week as temperature records were broken in many areas.
California’s state capital Sacramento hit an all-time high on Tuesday of 116 degrees (46.7 C), breaking a 97-year-old record. Salt Lake City had an all-time high Wednesday of 107 degrees (41.6 C).
On Tuesday, as air conditioners reeled in the sweltering heat, California set a record for power consumption and authorities were nearly forced to cut off power as grid capacity was at a breakthrough.
Climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the past three decades, scientists say, and will continue to make more extreme weather and more frequent and destructive wildfires. Over the past five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive wildfires in state history.
While firefighters have made progress against the Fairview Fire, the fast-moving Mosquito Fire in the foothills east of Sacramento doubled in size on Friday to at least 46 square miles (119 square kilometers). ) and threatened 3,600 homes in Placer and El Dorado counties, while wiping out the region in smoke.
The fire ignited the American River, consumed structures in the mountain village of Volcanoville, and moved closer to the towns of Foresthill, home to about 1,500 people, and Georgetown, population 3,000. More than 5,700 people in the area were evacuated, said Lieutenant Josh Barnhart of the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.
David Hance slept on the porch of his mother’s Foresthill mobile home when he awoke to a red sky early Wednesday morning and was ordered to evacuate.
“It really does create something scary, because they say, ‘Oh, it’s getting closer,'” he said. “Midnight is like a sunset.”
Hance left behind most of his electronics, all his clothes and family photos and ran to Auburn, where he found his mother, Linda Hance, who said the biggest stress was wondering, “Is my house still there? Is that?”
Tour de Tahoe organizers announced Friday that they will be canceling the annual 72-mile (115 km) bike ride scheduled for Sunday around Lake Tahoe because of heavy smoke from the blaze – more than 50 miles away. 80 km) – and notes that cycling is a “heavy cardiovascular activity that doesn’t combine well with bad air quality.” Last year’s trip was canceled due to smoke from another major fire south of Tahoe.
The cause of the Mosquito Fire is still under investigation. Pacific Gas & Electric said unspecified “electrical activity” occurred in close proximity to Tuesday’s fire report.
