Although Santa Cruz County will get some windy, dry weather accompanied by the summer sun this weekend, Pacific Gas & Electric did not have any power shutoffs planned for the county as of Friday afternoon, and the National Weather Service is not warning of especially high fire danger in the region.
PG&E spokesperson Stephanie Magallon told Lookout on Friday that the agency conducted public safety power shutoffs in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties this past week, as well as several others in Northern California and the southern Central Coast because of a high risk that downed power lines could cause wildfires.
Magallon said there will be another shutoff in Monterey County on Saturday that stretches into San Benito County. Santa Cruz County, she said, is not included in the shutoffs as of now.
from thursday
Magallon said that three conditions largely dictate whether or not the agency will turn off power to an area: strong winds, low humidity, and dry vegetation. NWS meteorologist Dalton Behringer said that the Central Coast will be windy and dry throughout the weekend, which means there is an “elevated risk” of fire. However, he said that the agency is not planning a red flag warning at this time — an official warning that weather conditions are ideal for fire combustion and rapid spread.
“We take a multi-pronged approach to red flag warnings, and look at relative humidity and wind,” he said. “The criteria is usually when humidity drops into the teens and sustained winds are 30 miles per hour or higher.”
Behringer said that relative humidity varies greatly across the Central Coast, but humidity usually hovers in the 60% to 70% range with a solid marine layer, and 40% to 50% in higher elevations.
Although the weather will remain mostly dry for the foreseeable future, Behringer said that a cooler weather pattern could roll in next weekend, bringing lower temperatures and a denser marine layer, giving the county a brief respite from the elevated fire risk.
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