10:30 a.m. PST Nov. 25, 2021

Red Flag Warnings and wind gusts of 50 to 69 mph have led to preemptive power shutoffs in Southern California on Thanksgiving day.

Southern California Edison reported at 10:25 a.m. Thursday that 1.1 percent, or 63,835 of their customers, have had their electrical power turned off as a preemptive measure to prevent wildfires if the strong winds blow down power lines. An additional 156,000 customers are in areas where power shutoffs are under consideration.

At 9:38 a.m. Thursday 44 weather stations had wind gusts that exceeded 50 mph, with the highest being 69 mph at Cloudland Cutoff. At that time 380 stations recorded conditions meeting Red Flag Warning criteria, and another 307 were flirting with the status. Most had relative humidity in the low teens.

The strong winds out of the northeast are expected to decrease Thursday afternoon and by 8 p.m. will be less than 7 mph in most areas. But the extremely low relative humidity in the single digits or teens will continue through Monday.

As this is being written at 10:30 a.m. PST Thursday there have been no reports of large fires during this wind event.