CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES CONTINUE THEIR RAMPAGE

Oct. 28, 2003 — The wildfires in southern California continue their consumption of homes and land across a wide swath of the state. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., and NOAA National Weather Service forecast offices in Los Angeles and San Diego said very dry and warm conditions have prevailed for most of October leading up to this fire weather event. As the Santa Ana Winds developed late last week, it allowed very warm and windy conditions with winds generally out of the east-northeast across southern California. Along with the strong and often very gusty winds, the humidity dropped below 10 to 15 percent in many places. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of wildfires across the state of California taken on Oct. 27, 2003, at 3:44 p.m. EST. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Click here for latest NOAA images. Please credit “NOAA.”)

According to NOAA forecasters, it appears that the current Santa Ana offshore wind event is diminishing. Although the winds were diminishing Monday, the wind directions may still be variable as the sea-breeze begins to push slowly inland. In addition, the relative humidity early Tuesday is expected to remain extremely low across most of the area until perhaps late Tuesday as general onshore winds push across the area, finally resulting in cooler conditions with increasing humidity. Although the weather conditions will be slowly improving, the southern California area will be impacted by the fires for much of this week, and conditions remain favorable for additional wildfires. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of wildfires across the state of California with smoke drifting into the Pacific Ocean taken on Oct. 27, 2003, at 1:09 p.m. EST. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Click here for latest NOAA images. Please credit “NOAA.”)

NOAA meteorologists continue to provide minute-by-minute localized fire weather forecasts to the hundreds of firefighters battling the raging fire storms across California.

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Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Fire Weather Information Center

NOAA National Weather Service Western Region

NOAA National Fire Weather Page

NOAA Western Red Flag Warnings

NOAA Fire Graphics and Satellite Images

NOAA Provides Critical Support to Wildfire Management

High-tech Meteorology Helps NOAA Forecast Fire Weather

NOAA Fire Weather Services

Media Contact:
Marilu Trainor, NOAA National Weather Service Western Region, (801) 524-5692 ext. 226 or Keli Tarp, NOAA Storm Prediction Center, (405) 366-0451