The National Weather Service (NWS) has once again issued a Fire Weather Watch for the hills near Sonoma County — the watch will be in effect from 5 a.m. this Wednesday, Oct. 14 to 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16.
NWS Bay Area has issued the watch for North Bay mountains, East Bay hills and the Santa Cruz mountains. Predicted north and northeast winds between 15 and 30 miles per hour are expected, with gusts of 30 to 40 miles per hour and 45 to 50 miles per hour at high elevations. In addition to the offshore winds, the weather pattern shows dry humidity, with even drier conditions overnight.
A Fire Weather Watch indicates that, due to dry areas coupled with extreme weather, there is a potential for increased fire risk. As the weather event gets closer, the NWS may issue a Red Flag Warning, which signifies more immediate fire when dry areas couple with extreme weather to create potential for increased fire risk.
NWS Eureka and NWS Sacramento have issued Fire Weather Watches for other nearby areas as well.
A Fire Weather Watch and subsequent Red Flag Warning was issued two weeks ago, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3. The week before that, a Fire Weather Watch and Red Flag Warning was issued for Sept. 26 to Sept. 28 — during which, the Glass Fire started.
