Brush fires, floods – even a tornado. More storms on the way

It’s only mid-December, but dramatic swings in the weather already seem to be marking California’s transition into winter — and it’s likely far from over.

Just this past week, a major wildfire ran into Malibu, driven by dangerous Santa Ana winds, and a powerful storm dumped feet of snow in the mountains, causing flooding in the Bay Area and in Santa Cruz County, formed a tornado.

And now forecasters are warning that similar conditions are likely to return this week, with strong wind in Southern California, giving rise to additional fire concerns, and a series of atmospheric rivers headed for Northern California, which could bring more flooding and headaches for travelers.

These divergent winter weather patterns provide the latest reminder of how much California can vary climatologically, especially when it comes to early winter precipitation.

“It’s pretty common for other parts of the West to be targeted and we’re kind of left out,” Robbie Munroe, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard, said of Southern California’s relative dryness to the north. He said the stark contrast often fades in January or February, when the jet stream — which tends to direct moisture-laden storms — moves farther south.

Read more: With bone-dry conditions, Southern California’s high fire danger may persist into the new year

So even as Northern California dealt with significant rainfall and high winds this weekend — road closures in Sonoma County, cut down trees along the North Bay Coast and knocking out power to thousands — Southern California firefighters continued to work the rugged landscape surrounding the Franklin Fire in Malibu, which was just over 50% contained early Monday.

The south country remains in high fire seasonwhich could last into the new year without a soggy rainfall, and forecasters say more Santa Ana winds are on the way.

As of Tuesday afternoon, much of Ventura County and western Los Angeles County will be under a red flag warning, with northeast winds reaching from 40 mph and some isolated gusts hitting 60 mph, especially in San Gabriel, Santa Susana and the Santa Monica Mountains.

Munroe said the wind is not expected to be as strong or dry as the wind that helped blow the Franklin Fire last week, but conditions are still delicate with low humidity and dry brush. This “Traditional Santa Ana Corridor,” which includes the region that saw Mountain fire explodes in November, will again have the potential to see extreme behavior if a fire breaks out, Munroe said.

“There’s still a lot of common concern among meteorologists and firefighters across the area because of the susceptible fuels that we’ve seen recently,” fire weather warning said early Monday, which was later upgraded to a red flag warning.

There was early hope that Southern California could get significant rain by the end of the week, when a series of wet storms expected to come south from the Gulf of Alaska, but they have mostly evaporated.

“The largest amount of rain impacts will remain to our north, more than likely,” Munroe said.

This next period of wet weather is expected to start in Northern California on Friday, bringing more rain, snow and potential flooding to the region as a “series of atmospheric rivers push inland,” according to the weather service Weather forecast center.

“We’re expecting a wet week next week,” said Crystal Oudit, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey. “We may remain in a wet pattern for… Christmas week.”

That rainfall will come just days after much of Northern California was drenched last weekend and into Monday. The most significant storm brought wet rains and strong winds Saturday, leading to first tornado warning ever in San Francisco, where wind gusts up to 80 mph caused extensive damage.

While a twister did not end up landing in San Francisco, one did just south in Scotts Valley in Santa Cruz County.

The tornado recorded wind speeds up to 90 mph as it tore a path nearly 30 yards wide for nearly a third of a mile, according to the National Weather Service. At least three people were injured as the tornado toppled trees and power poles, snapped branches, overturned vehicles and damaged street signs. weather service reported. It was classified as a weak E-F1, which the National Weather Service considers a moderate tornado on its scale from EF-0 to EF-5.

While tornadoes are not regular occurrences in the Bay Area, there have been several recorded in the areaincluding seven others in Santa Cruz County, the National Weather Service reported.

The weekend storm also dumped significant snow across the northern Sierra Nevada, including more than two feet of fresh powder in Lake Tahoe. Rapid bouts of rain temporarily flooded some roadways and underpasses in the Bay Area, submerged cars in a low-lying street in Livermore.

It doesn’t look like the next round of storms beginning Friday will have any notable winds associated with them, Oudit said, but she noted that some forecasts are still too far out to know for sure.

Times staff writers Andrea Chang and Ben Poston contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.