Updated at 4:58 p.m. Oct. 9, 2017:
The first Santa Ana winds of autumn buffeted the San Diego area Monday, keeping emergency-services personnel on high alert as warm, gusty and dry conditions made the region ripe for wildfires.
At 8 a.m., the National Weather Service activated a 26-hour “red flag” warning to alert the public to local combustion danger in the county’s mountains and valleys. Areas expected to face particularly acute hazards included Descanso and Palomar Mountain.
The combination of high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity meant that any wildfires that erupted likely would spread “rapidly (and) with extreme behavior,” according to the NWS.
Several brush fires did erupt locally Monday afternoon, but crews were able to halt their spread before they posed any imminent threats to developed areas.
Over the morning, the weather service recorded the following high wind gusts:
— Campo: 51 mph, 9:16 a.m.;
— Sill Hill: 51 mph, 9 a.m.;
— Boulevard: 50 mph, 9:20 a.m.;
— Hellhole Canyon: 46 mph, 10 a.m.;
— Boulder Creek: 45 mph, 9:40 a.m.;
— Pine Valley: 45 mph, 9:10 a.m.;
— Palomar Mountain: 44 mph, 11:16 a.m.;
— Descanso: 43 mph, 8:20 a.m.;
— Potrero: 43 mph, 9:30 a.m.;
— Campo: 42 mph, 9:40 a.m.;
— Alpine: 41 mph, 10:40 a.m.;
— Santa Ysabel: 41 mph, 10:40 a.m.;
— Alpine: 40 mph, 10:52 a.m.;
— Barrett Junction: 40 mph, 11:30 a.m.;
— Escondido: 40 mph, 9:36 a.m.;
— Santa Ysabel: 39 mph, 9:50 a.m.;
— Valley Center: 39 mph, 10:15 a.m.;
— Viejas Grade: 39 mph, 10:40 a.m.;
— Boulder Creek: 38 mph, 9 a.m.;
— Dye Mountain, 38 mph, 10:50 a.m.;
— Julian: 38 mph, 9:20 a.m.;
— Boulevard: 37 mph, 9:50 a.m.;
— Chihuahua Valley: 37 mph, 8:50 a.m.;
— Otay Mountain: 37 mph, 11:14 a.m.;
— Potrero: 37 mph, 9:50 a.m.;
— Tierra del Sol: 37 mph, 10:40 a.m.;
— Volcan Mountain: 37 mph, 8:50 a.m.;
— Julian: 36 mph, 9:40 a.m.;
— Otay Mountain, 36 mph, 9:30 a.m.;
— Santa Ysabel Ranch: 36 mph, 9:30 a.m.;
— Wynola: 36 mph, 10:30 a.m.;
— Alpine: 35 mph, 11:40 a.m.;
— Rincon: 35 mph, 9 a.m.;
— Santa Ysabel: 35 mph, 8:50 a.m.;
— Pauma Valley: 34 mph, 11:20 a.m.;
— Pine Valley: 34 mph, 9:07 a.m.;
— Potrero: 34 mph, 9:27 a.m.;
— Pine Valley: 33 mph, 11:40 a.m.;
— Santa Ysabel: 33 mph, 11:10 a.m.;
— Warner Springs: 33 mph, 11:40 a.m.;
— Julian: 32 mph, 9:30 a.m.;
— Fallbrook: 32 mph, 10:22 a.m.;
— Lake Cuyamaca: 32 mph, 9:40 a.m.;
— Lake Morena: 32 mph, 8:50 a.m.;
— Mount Laguna: 32 mph, 8:40 a.m.;
— Palomar Mountain: 32 mph, 11:25 a.m.;
— Pine Hills: 32 mph, 6:04 a.m.;
— Ramona: 32 mph, 10:50 a.m.;
— Santa Ysabel: 32 mph, 9:30 a.m.;
— Viejas: 32 mph, 9:50 a.m.;
— Warner Springs: 32 mph, 11:40 a.m.;
— Dulzura: 31 mph, 11:20 a.m.;
— Ramona: 31 mph, 11 a.m.;
— Guatay: 30 mph, 9 a.m.;
— Harrison Park: 30 mph, 9:40 a.m.
—City News Service
