Fire risk remains high in Southern California until the weekend

AccuWeather's California Expert Ken Clark was live on the AccuWeather Network on Jan. 24 to discuss the wildfire threat in California.

Transcript

00:00I want to bring in we're going to be talking with Ken Clark in here in just a moment we want to talk

00:03more about California first let's take you out to Los Angeles and you know what clear skies that

00:09means we have an offshore flow and that offshore flow is what's been driving the winds and the

00:15fires over the last several weeks here with that I do want to bring in live from Rancho Cucamonga

00:21this morning our California expert he's been working here at AccuWeather for over four decades

00:27he trained me and you can see where my career is gone uh with Ken's training and you know Ken

00:34all joking aside here this has been a disaster in southern California with these fires and

00:40even this morning we're traveling battling that fire in Otay Mountain not far away from Chula

00:47Vista and we still have several fires still burning in uh near Los Angeles we have nine

00:53total fires in southern California still the air is extremely dry uh continues to be extremely dry

00:59uh dew points below zero in some spots relative humidity still in the single percent area and

01:05that's why we still have a fire danger during the morning hours of today the good news is

01:11by this afternoon things start really changing yeah it's a little warm too Ken with temperatures

01:16in the 70s but you know what does it even matter anymore Ken the temperature when that when the

01:22wind comes out of the east northeast it's just there's always going to be enough for the starting

01:28and the rapid spreading of fires the fields can't be any drier than they are right now

01:3475 or 85 degrees it really doesn't matter all right Ken let's talk about the next storm here

01:39because you know what in meteorology it's all about location location location there's the

01:46satellite I want to play the upper area and we're going to stop it right here this is the key

01:51move Ken on where this upper low goes correct that's correct because where it's going is right

01:59right down toward the bay area and then actually a little offshore just along the uh south central

02:03California coast by the end of the weekend early next week this is far different than the pattern

02:08we've seen this low would have been farther eastward that's what created the very destructive

02:13uh wildfire winds we had earlier in the month in Palisades and the Eaton fires that low came down

02:21but it was much farther east and we had all the winds in the upper atmosphere this one's coming

02:25down right at southern California it's going to start picking up moisture from off the Pacific

02:30and we're going to see some fairly nice and impressive rain amounts before it's all said and

02:35done and you know Ken this isn't a wouldn't be a huge storm for southern California's standards

02:40during this time of the year but certainly this is easily the most impactful storm we've had in

02:47the winter season in southern California correct this is the most impactful storm we've had since

02:52last spring because Los Angeles only had 1,600 of an inch of rain since the middle of April last year

02:59so impactful lots of rain chillier to colder temperatures 20 degrees lower than or yesterday

03:06by Sunday and Monday we're looking at low to mid 50s in the valleys really quickly Ken how

03:12worried about uh debris flows in the burn scar areas I'm somewhat worried about it while this is

03:18a long duration event and that means the rainfall amounts will be over a long period of time there

03:23will be individual showers and maybe a thunderstorm that produce a heavy downpour so I am concerned

03:28about that I think the people that live around and in those burn scar areas uh have to be very

03:34conscious that it could happen all right meteorologist Ken Clark thanks