LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Red Flag warnings were posted today for Monday and Tuesday in the interior mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Triple-digit temperatures are expected to set records on Monday, National Weather Service officials said.
The warnings mean high winds, hot temperatures and dry air can be expected to cause dangerous fire conditions in the San Gabriel Mountains and Santa Clarita Valley.
Although the warning does not include the Santa Monica Mountains, that area will be under a Fire Weather Watch both days.
The warnings and watch go into effect at 6 a.m. Monday and will expire at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The classic Santa Ana Winds pattern is setting up courtesy of an autumn high pressure system developing over the Great Basin region of Nevada and Utah. It will push desert winds west and south toward the ocean, and compression forces the air through mountains at increased speeds and temperatures.
"Fire danger is expected to peal on Monday, when record-breaking triple-digit heat and widepsread single-digit humidities will combine with very-dry fuels," the NWS warned in a special statement issued Sunday morning.
Wind gusts of 20-30 mph were expected in the Santa Clarita Valley and the mountains of L.A. County Monday.
Cooler air will blow in Tuesday, fresh from the Pacific. But those winds will gust at around 25 mph, causing a brief confluence of heat, dryness and shifting winds Tuesday afternoon, the NWS said.
