Thanksgiving week across Southern California will be dominated by sunshine, butnot calm weather. Gusty Santa Ana winds will howl most days. These offshorewinds will also promote warm weather throughout the region, heightening thefire danger in the process.With high pressure centered over the Rockies, Santa Ana winds that beganblowing on Monday will continue to whip across Southern California today. Thewinds will howl across the mountains and below passes and canyons. As istypical, winds will stay calm in Downtown Los Angeles.
The winds will peak between 40 and 60 mph this morning. The winds will subsidesome this afternoon before turning quite gusty again tonight. Residents areurged to strongly use caution when dealing with sparks and fires. The windscould easily spread any blazes across the region.
Santa Ana winds blow from inland areas towards the coast, warming the air inthe process. Temperatures in Downtown Los Angeles will rise into the lower 80stoday into Thanksgiving. The beaches will even be pleasantly warm with highs inthe lower 70s expected.
Southern California will turn cooler on Friday and Santa Ana winds will brieflydiminish as a new Pacific storm pushes into the Northwest. As a fresh dome ofhigh pressure builds into the Rockies, potentially stronger Santa Ana winds mayreturn this weekend.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski
