Gusty winds to return and reignite fire risk across California

While California residents continue to wait for an unusually late start to the wet season, Santa Ana winds will increase the fire threat across parts of the state.A storm system moving into the northwestern United States on Friday will bring areas of rain and mountain snow to the region.Late on Friday and into the weekend this storm system will drop south through the Rocky Mountains, where it can bring accumulating snow to some of the higher peaks.As this storm continues to sink south on Saturday, an area of high pressure will build into the Northwest.This will cause northeasterly winds to increase across Northern and Central California on Saturday. Wind gusts are expected to reach between 20 and 40 mph, especially in the northeast- to southwest-oriented mountain passes.By Saturday night the high is forecast to slide southwest toward the Great Basin and winds in Northern California will begin to decrease.Meanwhile, gusts across Southern California will begin to increase as a Santa Ana wind event develops.Wind gusts are expected to peak between 35 to 55 mph in the northeast- to southwest-oriented mountain passes and canyons before gradually tapering off into Monday.As is typical with an offshore wind events, conditions across the region will begin to trend warmer throughout the weekend."Winds with this event will be weaker than the past couple of Santa Ana events," stated AccuWeather Meteorologist Max Gawryla. "But any gusty winds coupled with the prevailing dry conditions can increase the fire threat across the region."As dry conditions continue across the region, any spark can set a fire and gusty winds can help to spread any new and existing fires faster. This threat will loom over the region until the wet season starts.The wet season in California typically runs from Oct. 1 to May 1, but residents across the state are still waiting for the first drops of relief."The 2019-2020 season will likely be the third latest start to the wet season as rain-free conditions look to continue into this weekend," added Gawryla. There is potential for a storm system to bring a little rain to Northern California during the early part of next week.However, at this time rain showers look to be widely separated and the storm track looks to stay too far north to kick off the wet season and bring relief from the fire threat in Northern California. Download the free AccuWeather appto follow the forecast for your area. Keep checking back onAccuWeather.comand stay tuned to theAccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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