Summer in winter: record heat & high winds hit NorCal — wind-driven wildfire breaks out at The Geysers

UPDATE 1/19/21 — The high winds overnight pushed multiple fires in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and other parts of the Central Coast, even in the burn scar of the recent CZU Lightning Complex fire. A truly unprecedented even for mid-January.

ORIGINAL
WILLITS, 1/18/21 — January 18 seemed more like a pleasant fall day in most of Mendocino, with warm, dry weather displacing the usual cold grey of the North Coast winter. Same day temperature records were broken across the state and an unseasonable bout of fast dry winds bore down, resulted in PG&E performing it’s first ever January preemptive power shut-off — and the National Weather Service (NWS) declared a red flag warning along the Central Coast. Tonight is expected to see the strongest winds, but more wind is expected Tuesday night.