National Weather Service Issues Red Flag Warning for LA County

By City News Service

Gusty high winds and low humidity levels kept the Southland under a red flag warning today.

National Weather Service meteorologists forecast gusts of between 45 and 55 miles per hour in mountain areas and between 35 and 50 mph in the valleys as a result of the Santa Anas sweeping Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The high winds will coincide with humidity levels dropping to the teens and single digits, they said.

A wind advisory was scheduled to remain in effect until noon in much of L.A., Orange and Ventura counties. A red flag warning denoting a risk of wildfire was scheduled to be in effect until 4 p.m. in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, the Angeles National Forest, the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys, along the coast, on the Westside, in the Hollywood Hills and in metropolitan Los Angeles, including downtown.

Southland temperatures, meanwhile, were forecast to be on the warm side in sharp contrast with the frigid temperatures gripping much of the nation.

The National Weather Service forecast highs of 60 in Palmdale, Lancaster and on Mount Wilson; 69 in Saugus; 70 in Newport Beach; 73 in Avalon; 77 at LAX, in Anaheim and Woodland Hills; 78 in Pasadena, San Gabriel and downtown L.A.; and 79 in Long Beach and Burbank.