San Diego County edged closer to drought Tuesday, whipped by fierce and damaging Santa Ana winds that further dried out a region that hasn’t gotten a long, deep soaking of rain since March.
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The wind storm — which toppled big rigs on Interstate 8, fanned wildfires and canceled school in 10 rural districts — might be followed by weak Santa Anas on Sunday and again next Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
There might be some brief drizzle Thursday. But forecast models suggest the region will otherwise be mostly dry until Christmas Eve, and perhaps all the way to New Year’s Eve. The jet stream is likely to prevent big storms up north from dipping into Southern California.
“After the hot summer (we had), it could be a really slow start to the winter,” said Alex Tardy, a weather service forecaster.
Santa Ana winds usually arrive from the north-northeast, which isn’t conducive for funneling them all the way to the coast. But Tuesday’s winds largely came from the east and followed a fairly clear path almost all the way to the ocean.
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They squeezed through mountain passes that helped them gain speed.
“It’s like when you put your thumb over the end of a garden hose,” said John Suk, a weather service forecaster. “The water flows faster, then goes down not far away.”
That effect was on display on Viejas Mountain, where winds whipped the peak’s western flank Tuesday morning, rattling bushes near the 4,187-foot summit. Below in nearby Alpine, there was only a mild breeze.
Sill Hill near Ramona reported a gust to 95 mph — just 1 mph shy of the force of a Category 2 hurricane. It was the highest gust reported Tuesday across all of Southern California, which the Santa Anas broadly hit.
The winds reached 71 mph along Interstate 8, east of Alpine, causing a nightmare for drivers. Gusts toppled five big rigs, temporarily snarling traffic, and dozens more pulled over to wait out the wind.
Doug Aguillard, a videographer for OnScene.TV, said he saw four of the big rigs that crashed Tuesday. “This is just nuts,” he said. “These truckers won’t stop. … It is not even gusts. It is just constant.”
That part of the county also was the scene of a worrisome brush fire that broke out in late morning southwest of Barrett Junction, a small community off state Route 94 in East County.
Around 175 firefighters and at least four helicopters were sent to the so-called Border 79 fire burning on the northwest side of Tecate Peak. Officials said it was too windy for tankers to get low enough to drop water or fire retardant.
Evacuations were briefly ordered south of SR-94 from Dulzura Summit to just east of Barrett Junction. Even after the order was lifted, officials said residents should be ready to leave should conditions change.
Investigators are trying to determine what sparked the blaze, which charred 24 acres, a Cal Fire spokesperson said. Firefighters had the fire 50 percent contained by early afternoon.
All eastbound traffic on Interstate 8 were diverted to exit at Willow Road in Alpine, and only low-profile vehicles were allowed to continue. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The risk of wildfire was enhanced by low relative humidity, which had fallen to the 5% to 15% range by early afternoon.
Forecasters correctly predicted the onset and path of Tuesday’s storm.
San Diego Gas & Electric notified more than 117,000 of its customers over the weekend that it might temporarily shut off their power to reduce the threat of wildfires, and that outages could last a day or more. It calls such outages public safety power shutoffs — de-energizing power lines to reduce the risk that high winds could knock them down into dry vegetation and spark a wildfire.
It began to follow through on that warning Monday, leading to outages in more than 40 communities, including Alpine, Julian, El Cajon, Escondido, Lakeside and Ramona. By late Tuesday, more than 46,000 households remained without power, and they faced the possibility they might not get it back for a day or two.
Crews divert eastbound traffic off of Interstate 8. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Shortly after 4:15 a.m. Tuesday, as winds were kicking up, firefighters responded to a brush fire on Rangeland Road north of Highland Valley Road in the Ramona area.
The fire, pushed by winds and burning in a grassy area, ran into a riparian creek area where its progress slowed, and firefighters were able to gain the upper hand, said Cal Fire Capt. Mike Cornette.
The power outages prompted Harrah’s Resort Southern California in the Valley Center area to close, but the casino and resort welcomed guests back Tuesday afternoon, with power restored.
San Diego resident Don Thomsen stands near his vehicle at Harrah’s Rincon casino and hotel after finding out the place was closed Tuesday. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Staff writers Maura Fox and Rob Nikolewski contributed to this report.
