Two persons ride bicycles at the Venice Beach in Los Angeles, the United States, Oct. 24, 2017. A red flag warning took effect Monday amid record-breaking temperatures in Southern California in the United States, as fire agencies are on high alert in the wake of the deadly wildfires in Northern California. (Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong)
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- A red flag warning took effect Monday amid record-breaking temperatures in Southern California in the United States, as fire agencies are on high alert in the wake of the deadly wildfires in Northern California.
A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are expected. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and hot weather can contribute to extreme fire behavior.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), temperatures in many areas in Los Angeles and Ventura County on Monday afternoon were above 100 Fahrenheit degrees (37.7 degrees centigrade). Downtown LA, LAX, Burbank, and Camarillo all broke records.
The high pressure aloft will continue to dominate the weather through Wednesday. Downtown LA reached a record high of 102 Fahrenheit degrees (38.9 degrees centigrade), breaking the mark of 98 Fahrenheit degrees (36.7 degrees centigrade ) set in 1965.
A red flag warning will remain in effect through Wednesday as a result. The NWS noted that high temperatures and winds will bring the most dangerous fire weather conditions that Southwest California has seen in the past few years.
"A moderate to locally strong Santa Ana wind event will bring windy, hot and very dry conditions through Wednesday to much of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. This event is especially concerning because of the multiple-day nature of it, which we have not seen yet this season and such events have a history of large fires," according to the NWS.
In response to the latest heat wave, the Los Angeles Fire Department will impose a 24-hour red flag parking restrictions Tuesday to remove illegally parked vehicles in posted locations within the very high fire hazard severity zones. It's the first time that the department has imposed the restrictions since May 2014.
