Author Topic: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere  (Read 2433 times)

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Offline SLOweather

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Thomas Fire in Ventura County, from zero to > 45,000 acres since starting last night. 150 structures destroyed at last count, 1 death, 7,000 homes and 27,000 people under mandatory evacuations.

http://abc7.com/thomas-fire-explodes-to-31k-acres-150-structures-burn-in-ventura-county/2740200/

Google Thomas Fire for more. Also check the @NWSLosAngeles Twitter feed for updates.

Plus, at Kirkwood Ski Area south of Lake Tahoe last evening, the winds at the top of Chair 6 were gusting to 101 MPH...

Offline CW2274

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2017, 03:07:01 PM »
News just said it's growing at the rate of a football field per second. :shock:

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2017, 06:39:25 PM »
Smoke from the SoCal fires. We live about at the pentagon.


Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2017, 09:08:12 AM »
90,000 acres burned this morning, 101 through Ventura County closed, schools in ventura and Carpenteria closed.

This doesn't include other fires.

From http://www.oesnews.com/extreme-fire-danger-socal/

Officials Warn of Strong Winds Overnight and Extreme Fire Danger in Southern California through Friday


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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – With strong winds expected overnight and extreme fire conditions in the forecast through Friday in Southern California, public safety officials will issue a region-wide emergency alert at 8:00 P.M. PST Wednesday asking residents to stay ready, monitor local news and listen to local authorities.

The following alert will be sent via text message through the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system to cell phone users across Southern California:

“Strong winds overnight creating extreme fire danger. Stay alert. Listen to authorities.”

The geographically-targeted text messages will be sent to residents in San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Orange, Ventura and Los Angeles counties where red flag warnings have been issued.

The alert comes as the National Weather Service is forecasting an extreme Santa Ana Wind event beginning tonight, Wednesday, with 18 to 24 hours of strong winds gusting 50-80 miles per hour. The predicted winds, coupled with very dry conditions, mean that any fires that start will have a high probability of rapid growth.

“The state’s emergency operations center is fully activated and we are coordinating with all state agencies to continue our response to current fires and pre-position resources in case new fires emerge in the coming days,” said Mark Ghilarducci, Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

“We have been staffing up with additional personnel and equipment in Southern California over the past several days and our Incident Commanders have access to a wide variety of firefighting resources,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE Director. “But let me be clear, no amount of resources can keep up with the predicted conditions. Firefighters and law enforcement will be prioritizing life safety and working to effect evacuations where needed. The public has a critical role to play in helping us prevent fires before they start by using extreme caution and avoiding any activity that may cause a spark.”

Residents are advised to monitor local media and be ready to evacuate if needed. For more information on how to prepare, visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org.

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2017, 08:48:55 AM »
This morning's post from the NY Times is as good of a summary as any, I suppose...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/07/us/california-fire-ventura-county.html

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More than 200,000 people in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties have been told to leave their homes.

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Across seven counties, millions of cellphones shook and squawked with a warning of “extreme fire danger,” in California’s largest-ever use of a disaster alert system.

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As if to illustrate the danger, several new fires cropped up across Southern California. A fire near Bonsall in San Diego County ignited and within hours spread to more than 4,000 acres with zero containment.

Etc...

Offline PaulMy

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2017, 09:59:35 AM »
So sad to hear and read that, and so unfortunate for those living by it.  Hope and pray for all those affected.

Paul

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2017, 05:35:00 PM »
This morning, between 8 and 9 PST, the smoke really rolled in over San Luis Obispo.





The sun has been an orange pumpkin all day.

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2017, 11:00:55 AM »
The Ventura County FD holds a press briefing every evening at 6PM PST. It's one of the best run presentations of that sort I have seen. They have a lineup of representatives from all of the entities speaking their pieces in turn, and then take questions. Even Rich Thompson from the Oxnard NWS is there. (First time I've heard an NWS rep use the term "persistence" as a forecast model.

You can probably check it out on-line tonight at http://www.keyt.com/.

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2017, 09:37:36 AM »
Now the Thomas Fire is 259,000 acres, 400 square miles, about 60 miles long and 40 miles wide at greatest extents,
1009 buildings destroyed,
Total Fire Personnel:    8,318 
Total Fire Engines:    1,012 
Total Fire crews:    158 
Total Helicopters:    32 
Total Dozers:    78 
Total Water Tenders:    62 
Total Fixed Wing 7

and a large portion of California is under Red Flag Warnings this weekend...



Interestingly, San Luis Obispo County is in the doughnut hole along the coast outside the red Flag areas.

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2017, 11:55:40 AM »
Live coverage on www.keyt.com, ABC channel 3. It's bad in Santa Barbara and Montecito. Winds from NNE sustained 30 mph, gusts to 62. They keep expanding the evac zones...

Offline ocala

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2017, 04:49:29 PM »
Man I feel for you guys out there.
That's got to be hell just hoping the fire doesn't come your way.
 :-(
The blues had a baby and they named it Rock & Roll

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2018, 08:42:37 AM »
From fire to floods and mudslides now...

From NWS Oxnard Twitter feed:

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5.04 inches of rainfall has been observed so far with this storm at the Matilija Canyon rain gage north of Ojai in the Thomas burn area.

We've had about 2.5" since it started yesterday. KEYT 3 ABC Santa Barbara says:

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At 2:40 a.m., a flash flood warning was put in place for areas in the Thomas Fire and Whittier Fire area. That warning is expected to remain in place until 5:30 a.m. Santa Barbara County had already declared a 'State of Emergency' on Monday in anticipation of heavy rain in the area.

A flash flood warning was issued San Luis Obispo in the area of the Alamo Fire. That warning will remain in effect until about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Evacuation orders have been put in place for many residents in the footprint of the burn areas. Many have sought refuge at Santa Barbara City College as well as local hotels -- which are offering discounts to those evacuated.

Santa Barbara County put out an interactive map for people to check the evacuation status of their homes. That map can be found here.

The weather event is expected to gain intensity throughout Tuesday morning.

Winds gusted overnight and into the morning. Power outages were reported in Buellton, Vandenberg Village and in the area of Lake Cachuma. By 3:30 a.m. Southern California Edison reported a major power outage in Goleta. 1,341 customers were affected by the outage, which was likely caused by severe weather.

More at http://www.keyt.com/news/santa-barbara-s-county/mudslides-and-flash-flooding-a-threat-as-winter-storm-makes-landfall/683410796.


Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #12 on: January 09, 2018, 03:18:25 PM »
Right now SLOweather is in the eye of the low pressure system, which is drawing even more rain into the burn areas.



Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2018, 08:39:50 AM »
KEYT.com still running live news coverage this morning. They ran it all day yesterday...

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #14 on: January 10, 2018, 03:16:25 PM »
NWS rain total graphic for the storm, via their Twitter feed.

No wonder Montecito got washed out. The rain god drew a bullseye upstream of there...


Offline SLOweather

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2018, 07:02:57 PM »
Today's LA Times reported that, during the storm, Montecito received 0.54" of rain... in 5 minutes! That's a rate of 6.48"/hour.

Offline SlowModem

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Re: Thomas Fire/strong Santa Ana winds in So. California and elsewhere
« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2018, 08:48:22 PM »
Today's LA Times reported that, during the storm, Montecito received 0.54" of rain... in 5 minutes! That's a rate of 6.48"/hour.

I heard several reports of incredible rain rates.  It's really sad what's happening out there.
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA