Wildfires breaking out in California as ‘most destructive windstorm’ in over a decade hits

(CNN) — Editor’s note: Find the latest coverage of the Pacific Palisades wildfire here.

Wildfires began breaking out in Southern California Tuesday morning as a life-threatening, widespread windstorm that could be one of the most destructive to hit the region in over a decade roars to life and creates extremely dangerous fire weather conditions.

Here are the latest updates:

• Fast-growing fire threatens evacuations: The Palisades Fire has grown to 200 acres near Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood and structures are under threat, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Mandatory evacuations are in place for large areas of the seaside neighborhood, including portions of the iconic Pacific Coast Highway. CNN affiliate video shows flames creeping towards structures and smoke overtaking the air in the area. Westwood Recreation Center is open as an evacuation center.

• Hollywood Hills fire: A smaller fire broke out near Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles County’s Hollywood Hills around the same time on Tuesday morning, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

• Rare warning: Los Angeles and Ventura counties are under a rare, “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning, the most dire such warning issued by the National Weather Service, for a high risk for dangerous fire weather conditions Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday afternoon. “Widespread damaging winds and low humidities will likely cause fire starts to rapidly grow in size with extreme fire behavior,” the NWS warned.

• Hundreds of thousands could lose power: Power shutoffs are possible as Southern California’s energy providers try to prevent damaged infrastructure from starting blazes. More than 400,000 of Southern California Edison’s 5 million customers may have their power shut off in the coming days, according to the utility’s website.

Destructive windstorm fueling fire threat

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles used the most dire language possible to characterize the windstorm fueling the fire threat. The “life-threatening” windstorm “will likely be the most destructive” since a 2011 event “that did extensive damage to Pasadena and nearby foothills of the San Gabriel Valley,” the weather service warned.

The 2011 windstorm downed hundreds of trees and knocked out power for days because the seasonally strong Santa Ana winds dipped into more populous, lower-elevation areas typically sheltered from them.

That will be the case again with this event. Many areas of Los Angeles and eastern Ventura counties, including portions of the Los Angeles basin and San Gabriel Valley, are at risk of damaging hurricane-force wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph Tuesday afternoon into early Wednesday. Gusts between 80 and 100 mph are likely in higher elevation areas.

Winds will “accelerate to dangerous levels” starting Tuesday afternoon, according to the NWS. High wind warnings are in effect through at least Wednesday for much of Southern California. The strong winds will likely result in widespread downed trees as well as widespread power outages.

Winds will also be strong enough to bring down power lines, which could spark fires. Any fire that starts during this time could quickly turn into an out-of-control blaze.

Extreme dryness during what is typically the wettest time of the year is also helping to drive the fire threat.

Southern California has grown progressively more dry since late summer after fall and winter storms targeted the Pacific Northwest.

While last winter was a boon for Southwest rain and snow, the weather pendulum has swung to the other side of the spectrum this winter — a phenomenon becoming more common as the planet warms and weather patterns flip from one extreme to the other more frequently.

Drought in much of Southern California jumped to moderate in late December, including most of Los Angeles County, which had been drought-free since March 2023.

Vegetation is drier than normal across the region as a result and more prone to fire starts and spread, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.