SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — Just a few days ago thunderstorms rolled through San Diego bringing measurable rain to the county for the first time in months. But things are about to change as strong Santa Anas are headed our way.
Cal Fire spent the weekend making plans for another red flag warning.
“It means we're going to see an increase in potential for destructive fire,” said Cal Fire Sgt. Isaac Sanchez. “As the red flag grinds on over two or three days, we'll see effects of rain less and less.”
The warning runs from Monday at 3 a.-m. through Tuesday evening.
It will bring prime wildfire weather with high Santa Ana winds and single digit humidity levels.
“We changed the way we're staffing our hand crews,” said Sgt. Sanchez. "We've gone ahead and formed into strike teams in anticipation of this event, not only for San Diego, but across Southern California. It just makes it easier to move resources around.”
It's hard to believe potentially dangerous fire weather is on the way after a half-inch of rain soaked inland communities. Some mountain areas received up to an inch of rain.
But it does little to curb the extremely dry weather all year long.
"It's a drop in the bucket at this point,” said Sanchez. “Once that dries out, it'll be like it never happened. When we talk about live fuel moistures - they're still critically low and in order to start rising what we need are several rain events in a row.”
With that unlikely to happen over the next few days, it's a good reminder to practice fire safety during the red flag warning.
"Continue getting your defensible space working, if you’ve had work completed” said Sanchez. “And be aware and practice caution in public to avoid starting a fire.”
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