The strong winds that have fueled the deadly Los Angeles wildfires will “flip” over the weekend, bringing desperately needed moisture from the Pacific Ocean to the region and giving firefighters a chance to contain the blazes.
Santa Ana wind gusts as high as 55 mph fanned the flames in parts of southern California on Wednesday, continuing to spread the stubborn blazes — but by Friday the winds are expected to die down and shift from inland to offshore.
“Essentially the wind is going to be coming from the Pacific [blowing] inland. So we’ll get more of that onshore push. And because we’re getting the wind flipped from being from a drier land mass to more of over the ocean, that brings with it moisture,” Fox Meteorologist Marissa Lautenbacher told The Post.
While no rain has been forecast for at least the next ten days, the wet air will be a big boost for firefighters frantically trying to gain ground and contain the blazes on multiple fronts in LA County.
“The moisture, it’s going to be more and more difficult for any sort of fires to start. It’s going to be way better for firefighting conditions,” she said.
An ocean is laden with moisture, unlike the “tinderbox” dry air that’s blown down from the mountains outside of Los Angeles since the fires started last week.
More than 40,000 acres have been burned, over 12,000 structures destroyed and at least 25 lives lost in the wildfires, which have caused damages and economic losses estimated to be as high as $275 billion.
Winds continued to blow in the area on Wednesday — the fourth consecutive Santa Ana wind event — but it’s currently subsiding, Lautenbacher said. The wind “flip” should offer firefighters a chance to finally get the fires under control.
“Because we have that shifted in the winds blowing from the ocean to land, we won’t see that fire weather threat. So that’ll be really great for them to help in terms of containment.”
