Red Flag Warning, Wind Advisory for North Bay Late Sunday

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Red Flag Warning, Wind Advisory for North Bay

The North Bay Area and much of the rest of the region will be under a Red Flag Warning and Wind Advisory starting at 11PM Sunday and continuing until 11AM Monday. The Warning includes most of the Bay Area.

The passage of a cold front and low pressure system will cause increasing northerly and northeasterly winds by late Sunday that will ramp up through early Monday. Winds are forecast to reach 45MPH and gust as high as 60MPH on high peaks of the North Bay like Mt. St. Helena, and up to 25MPH in the valleys.

Here is now the European Model sees the wind setup around 5AM Monday morning. These winds are for about 2000 feet but some gusts will mix down to the valley areas.

The NAM Model shows are bullseye of higher winds over the mountains of the North Bay early Monday.

The combination of high winds, near record low fuel moisture for early December and a drying airmass prompted the NWS to issue the Red Flag Warnings. Winds will drop off during the day on Monday but are expected to mix down to low elevations and be strong along the coast and in the valleys early Monday AM.

Although the air mass will not be as dry as those in the fall, the cumulative rainfall deficit over the region and rapidly warming and drying conditions on Monday and Tuesday are other factors increasing the fire danger. In fact, high temperatures Monday and Tuesday have the potential to set records for the date and range into the mid and upper 70s.

PG&E had earlier announced limited power shutoffs for rural areas of Napa, Sonoma and Lake counties, but pulled back on those PSPS warnings Sunday morning. As of Sunday, the shutoffs will only impact 5 counties in and around the Sierra Nevada mountains.