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Winter storm live updates: At least 4 dead as heavy snow and ice create dire travel conditions

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Winter storm live updates: At least 4 dead as heavy snow and ice create dire travel conditions

As much of the country braved horizontal snow flurries and frigid temperatures, California faced the flip side of such winter treachery — warm days, dry winds and their dreaded sum: fire weather.

The forecast is not that unusual, especially after back-to-back winters of prodigious rain and snow. The National Weather Service, however, calls for “extreme fire weather” tomorrow and Wednesday that will be caused by a “life-threatening and destructive windstorm,” according to its regional messaging.

A red flag warning is in effect for more than 18 million people today, according to the weather service. It signals a forecast of winds greater than 20 mph and relative humidity of less than 25%, among other factors, and it is the weather service’s most dire alert for fire conditions.

For tomorrow and Wednesday, the weather service’s Oxnard, California, office forecasts 80 mph to 100 mph offshore winds in the mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties and 50 mph to 80 mph offshore winds for the coastal flatlands, inland valleys, and omnipresent canyons of the Los Angeles area.

The weather service’s San Diego office said the winds and warmth could linger through Thursday for parts of Southern California such as Orange County and the Inland Empire, where gusts of 50 mph were also forecast.

High wind warnings were otherwise scheduled from tomorrow morning through Wednesday for urban Southern California from Ventura County to the Mexico border.

Forecasters say a low pressure system expected to park over northern Mexico will help push winds from the north or the northeast over the desert and mountains toward the ocean, the opposite of the typical onshore weather pattern and one that heats the air as it compresses and descends from the higher elevations east of the state’s biggest cities.

The offshore winds, also known as Santa Ana winds, have the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on edge. It said it is moving 45 engine teams and six hand crews of firefighters from Northern California to the southern half of the state to prepare, according to a statement.

And, noting that 95% of wildfires are human-caused, it is urging Californians to be careful with tow chains, parking locations near brush, and mowing and trimming, which should be put off, the department said in a statement.

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