Red Flag Warning issued for San Diego County valleys and mountains

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A second round of stronger Santa Ana winds will develop midweek and elevate fire danger across Southern California.

A Fire Weather Watch was previously issued for San Diego County valleys and mountain communities including El Cajon, Escondido, Ramona and Julian for Wednesday and Thursday.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the county just got upgraded to a Red Flag Warning, meaning that critical fire weather conditions are either currently happening or on the horizon. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. The Red Flag Warning is in effect from 3 p.m. Wednesday to 7 p.m. Thursday.

Northeast winds 15 to 25 miles per hour with gusts up to 50 miles per hour are expected in these areas for Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon. Strongest winds will be in the eastern portions of the valleys and coastal mountain slopes.

Relative humidity could drop to as low as 11% during this time frame, which means any fire that spark are likely to spread rapidly.

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Even some of our coastal communities could get wind gusts 25 to 30 miles per hour late Wednesday.

Red Flag Warnings are in effect for parts of Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties where winds are expected to be the strongest.

Winds will gradually weaken into Friday, but elevated fire danger will still linger.

Temperatures will be near normal with beach and valley daytime highs in the low to mid-70s, upper 50s for mountains and low 70s for the deserts.