Add The California Post on Google Thousands of Northern California residents could be plunged into the dark this weekend as PG&E weighs shutting off electricity across wildfire-prone communities amid a dangerous cocktail of howling winds, bone-dry air and parched vegetation.
The utility company has warned that Public Safety Power Shutoffs are likely Saturday and Sunday in eight counties near the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento Valley as critical fire weather bears down on the region, per KQED.
El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra and Tehama counties are among those facing possible preemptive outages, according to PG&E.
The utility company estimated Thursday that roughly 14,000 customers across 11 counties could potentially be affected, although officials stressed that entire counties would not necessarily lose electricity. Any shutoffs would instead be targeted to areas facing the greatest wildfire threat.
“The Emergency Operations Center remains activated and PG&E meteorology is continuing to monitor the potential for elevated fire weather conditions to occur tomorrow through Monday morning,” PG&E said in its Friday forecast.
The National Weather Service in Sacramento also sounded the alarm, issuing a Fire Weather Watch for portions of the Sacramento Valley and northern Sierra foothills from 11 a.m. Saturday through 11 a.m. Monday.
“Periods of gusty winds alongside low daytime humidity and limited to poor overnight recoveries are expected through the weekend,” the agency warned.
The strongest winds are expected to whip through the Sierra on Saturday, with sustained speeds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts reaching 45 mph, according to KCRA 3 Meteorologist Ophelia Young.
Ridgetops could get hammered by gusts as high as 55 mph.
While winds are expected to ease Sunday, the danger won’t disappear. A shift to northwesterly winds is expected to drive humidity even lower, creating increasingly dry conditions ripe for flames to race through brittle vegetation.
“Any fires that develop will spread rapidly,” the National Weather Service warned.
Relative humidity could plummet to between just 10% and 25% during the Fire Weather Watch, while PG&E said dead vegetation is already running near or below normal moisture levels for this time of year. Moisture in brush has also been steadily dropping, leaving most species at what the utility described as “critically flammable levels.”
PG&E will expand its watch on Sunday to include Butte, Colusa, Glenn and Yolo counties, where power shutoffs could become necessary if conditions deteriorate.
By Monday, Tehama County is expected to remain under watch for likely shutoffs, while Butte, Colusa and Glenn counties will continue to be monitored.
The looming fire threat comes as cooler air finally sweeps into Northern California from the Pacific Northwest following a stretch of punishing heat.
But the relief comes with a nasty catch, powerful winds capable of turning even a small spark into a fast-moving wildfire.
The Bay Area could see gusts of 25 to 35 mph Saturday, while winds across the North and Central Sierra could roar between 40 and 50 mph, PG&E said.
Another burst of offshore winds reaching around 35 mph is then expected to hit the Sacramento Valley Sunday.
Conditions should finally settle down after the weekend, with forecasters calling for “fair, dry and seasonable” weather across the region for much of next week.
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