Santa Ana winds predicted for southern California

Extreme fire weather is predicted for southern California and the panhandle of Texas for Sunday.

A Red Flag Warning is in the forecast beginning Monday morning for southern California. The National Weather Service released this at 4:44 p.m. PDT, Sunday, May 10. The emphasis is added.

ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS-
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTY VALLEYS-THE INLAND EMPIRE-
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
INCLUDING THE MOUNTAIN TOP AND FRONT COUNTRY RANGER DISTRICTS OF
THE SAN BERNARDINO NATIONAL FOREST-SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS-
INCLUDING THE TRABUCO RANGER DISTRICT OF THE CLEVELAND NATIONAL
FOREST-
444 PM PDT SAT MAY 10 2014

..RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SUNDAY TO 8 PM
PDT TUESDAY FOR STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES…

A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SUNDAY TO 8 PM PDT
TUESDAY.

* WINDS..NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 35 MPH…WITH GUSTS TO 70 MPH
NEAR COASTAL FOOTHILLS AND BELOW PASSES AND CANYONS. THESE
WINDS WILL SLIGHTLY WEAKEN LATE SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY…THEN
INCREASE AGAIN ON MONDAY NIGHT AND INTO TUESDAY.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY…LOWEST DAYTIME AROUND 5 PERCENT…WITH
POOR OVERNIGHT RECOVERY.

* TIMING…THE FIRST ROUND OF WINDS WILL OCCUR SUNDAY MORNING. A
SECOND ROUND OF WINDS WILL OCCUR FOR LATE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH
EARLY MONDAY AFTERNOON…WITH A THIRD ROUND OF WINDS LATE
MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

* OUTLOOK…VERY DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH AT LEAST
THURSDAY. LOCALLY GUSTY OFFSHORE WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE ON
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY…BUT MAY NOT BE AS STRONG AS ON SUNDAY
OR TUESDAY.

****

UPDATE Sunday morning, May 11, 2014:

Santa Ana winds, extreme fire danger, & hot temperatures possible into the middle of next week. #SoCal #cawx pic.twitter.com/Y22sdYUOyU

— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) May 11, 2014

Some of the stronger wind gusts this morning…Malibu Hills 73mph, Topanga 63 mph, Saugus 55 mph, Montecito Hills 57 mph. #LAwind #cawx — NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) May 11, 2014