A series of powerful Santa Ana winds that lashed San Diego County and shattered wind-speed records dissipated Wednesday, allowing San Diego Gas & Electric crews to restore power to tens of thousands of customers.
“The worst is definitely behind us,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Tardy. “We’re seeing the last stages of the Santa Ana winds, but it’s still very dry out there.”
Red flag warnings issued by the weather service expired at 4 a.m. Wednesday and gusty conditions — particularly along Interstate 8 and south to the border with Mexico — quickly ramped down by early afternoon.
At sunrise, about 300 SDG&E field employees began patrolling and inspecting power lines and equipment in areas affected by Public Safety Power Shutoffs — the procedure in which utilities de-energize power lines to reduce the risk of high winds knocking overhead lines to the ground and potentially igniting a wildfire.
“Our sole focus is safely getting the power back on,” said Brian D’Agostino, SDG&E’s vice president of wildfire and climate science.
Improved conditions allowed SDG&E crews — including helicopter patrols — to make progress quickly throughout the day.
At 9 a.m., nearly 47,000 customers had no electricity in 41 communities that included Alpine, El Cajon, Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Lakeside, Valley Center and Julian.
But at 11 a.m., the figure dropped to about 30,000 and by 4:45 p.m., just over 1,800 customers in 25 communities were without electricity.
At the height of the storm, gusts reached 95 mph at Sill Hill in the Cleveland National Forest. Twelve stations in the SDG&E weather network set maximum wind records, including 80 mph gusts at three weather stations, 70 mph or higher at eight stations and at least 60 mph at 24 stations, D’Agostino said.
Perhaps the dramatic incident happened Tuesday morning along Interstate 8, when high winds toppled five big rigs and snarled traffic for hours.
The National Weather Service expects cool temperatures and cloudy skies for Thursday, with a chance of a slight amount of rain over some portions of San Diego County. “Just enough to get the ground wet Thursday afternoon,” Tardy said. “No puddles.”
But meteorologists anticipate Santa Ana winds kicking up again next Tuesday or Wednesday.
“Indications right now are that it will not be as strong as this event,” D’Agostino said. “But those are early indications, of course, being a week away.”
This week’s wind storm peaked at roughly 51,000 customers without power around sunrise Tuesday. The only other Public Safety Power Shutoff in SDG&E service territory with more outages was seen in December 2020 when about 73,000 customers had their circuits taken down temporarily.
The small amount of rain expected in the coming days is not expected make any dent in the dry conditions seen across the county.
The San Diego International Airport has recorded just 0.13 inches of rain since Oct. 1, which is 1.7 inches below average.
“While we see a little bit of rain coming over the next seven days, it’s not going to add up to much, so that deficit (of 1.7 inches) will just continue to grow,” Tardy said. “That deficit’s growing faster than the rain is coming down.”
Cal Fire sent a couple of engines down to the border early Wednesday to “button up” the Border 79 fire that sparked Tuesday on the northwest side of Tecate Peak, southwest of Barrett Junction.
Officials said the blaze, which broke out midmorning and prompted some evacuations, charred 38 acres and was reported to be 70 percent contained Wednesday morning.
The continued parched conditions means “we still have a challenging situation” with potential fuel, said Cal Fire Capt. Thomas Shoots.
Eleven school districts in rural areas canceled classes for Wednesday because of weather conditions and power shutoffs, the county Office of Education said.
Those districts included: Alpine Union School District, Borrego Springs Unified School District, Dehesa School District, Jamul-Dulzura Union School District, Julian Union Elementary School District, Julian Union High School District, Mountain Empire School District, Ramona Unified School District, Spencer Valley School District, Vallecitos School District and Warner Unified School District.
In addition, Pauma School in Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District, Barona Indian Charter School in Lakeside Union School District, and Del Lago Academy in Escondido Union High School District were closed.
However, Vivian Banks Charter School in Bonsall Unified School District announced early Wednesday it would reopen after its power was restored.
Staff writer Gary Robbins contributed to this story.
Originally Published:
