(Bloomberg) -- Drought. Wildfires. Floods and tornadoes.
California is being hit by a swirl of wild weather that’s forecast to continue this week as dry, seasonal winds return to southern areas, while the densely-populated Bay Area braces for the potential of more severe storms.
A rare tornado touched down Saturday, injuring three people and overturning cars in a Santa Cruz suburb. Last week, an explosive brush fire broke out in the hills surrounding Malibu, a wealthy enclave outside Los Angeles. The blaze destroyed 20 homes and structures and damaged dozens more.
Weather predictability has become more challenging, leaving scientists grappling with how to provide governments and industry with useful analysis about risks. The situation in California is just the latest example of a series of compounding events all hitting the same region within a short period of time as climate change takes its toll. Earlier this year, Florida suffered back-to-back hurricanes, while the city of Houston was walloped by a dangerous windstorm that was followed by a hurricane.
The fire in the Malibu area, dubbed the Franklin fire, is more than 60% contained and still smoldering , according to state officials as of Tuesday morning. It was originally fanned by hot and dry Santa Ana winds, which are expected to pick up across the region Tuesday. Red flag fire warnings will be in effect from late Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday evening.
“The strongest winds will be close to the Ventura-Los Angeles county line, the Malibu area and the Franklin fire,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, California. “That’s a bit of a concern, because the Franklin fire is largely under control, but the winds can stir things up again.”
Recent surveys have found that the Southern California landscape is “dry and ready to go,” Kittell added, with fire fuel moisture content falling to critical levels. Downtown Los Angeles is currently experiencing its driest stretch in more than 60 years, according to the NWS.
As of Tuesday morning, Southern California Edison was considering shutting off power to nearly 90,000 businesses and households in the coming days to reduce the risk of accidentally sparking a fire. The outages would be largely concentrated in San Bernardino County, though Malibu has also been targeted for potential power cuts — just days after power was restored from the Franklin fire.
Meanwhile, Northern California is cleaning up downed trees and power lines after an atmospheric river swept the region starting last Friday, dumping more than 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of rain in Sonoma County. San Francisco experienced its first-ever tornado warning early Saturday, said Rick Canepa, a forecaster with the NWS in Monterey, as the rains gave way to a supercell thunderstorm. A small tornado was detected later in the day 55 miles (89 kilometers) south of San Francisco, with winds of up to 90 mph (145 kph).
Two more atmospheric rivers are currently streaking across the Pacific Ocean, bringing yet more rain and a chance of strong winds in Northern California and the central coast through this weekend. The storms aren’t expected to be as severe as last week’s, Canepa said.
California residents “have had to deal with a lot, unfortunately,” said Bill Bunting, deputy director for the US Storm Prediction Center. “But meteorologically, the safety rules have not changed: know the dangers that exist, have multiple ways to receive warnings and develop a plan so you know what to do.”
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