Worsening Forecast For Los Angeles, San Diego, and Southern California

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This is the forecast for Thursday:
"Extreme" is the worst category. I fully expect additional fires today and especially tomorrow. The fires often start because high winds (forecast up to 70 mph in this case) down power lines. The sparks cause the fire.

Dr. Cliff Mass has an intriguing proposal to turn off power when forecasts of extreme fire conditions are in effect. Suggest reading his blog posting at the red link.

-- update --

 Here is a forecast from the NWS Los Angeles with forecast winds for 4am Thursday PST.
This is an extraordinarily serious situation. It does make one wonder if turning off the electricity in the areas with the highest forecast winds for a few hours would be an effective mitigation measure as Dr. Mass suggests.

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