Red Flag Warning extended through Thursday evening
(Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
Worsening conditions have forced weather forecasters to extend a Red Flag Warning that was issued on Tuesday.
The warning, which was set to expire later today, will now continue until at least Thursday evening, forecasters said in an updated weather alert.
The alert was issued based on a forecast that called for gusty wind, low humidity and dry weather, which has the potential to ignite and spread wildfires in the region.
A meteorologist with the National Weather Service said some of these conditions have already been experienced in portions of the Sacramento Valley, with wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour recorded in the western portion of the region.
“Winds are forecast to increase across much of interior Northern California today, accompanied by very dry conditions,” the forecaster said. “Smoke will likely be transported by the wind from area wildfires and blanket much of Northern California through the day.”
In Solano County, that smoke began to creep in late Tuesday evening, settling across much of the region by Wednesday morning. Visibility is low in portions of north Solano County, and a strong smell of burning brush lingered in the air by lunchtime.
As a precaution, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) shut off electrical service to hundreds of customers in rural parts of north Solano County. Those customers are unlikely to have their power restored until early Friday morning, the utility said.
The situation comes on the one-year anniversary of the LNU Lightning Complex fire’s impact in Solano County. The fire crossed over from Napa County in the late evening hours of August 18, 2020, destroying hundreds of structures in rural Vacaville, Fairfield and Winters and scorching tens of thousands of acres of land.
A portion of the fire that impacted Solano County was later determined to be deliberately set, a separate blaze that eventually merged with one sparked by lightning during a rare summer storm one day earlier.
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