As the end of the year rapidly approaches, it seems the Santa Ana wind is just getting started — with some of the most intense winds of 2024 forecast to occur this week.
The National Weather Service has issued wind advisories for several counties in Southern California Edison’s service area and warns of dangerous fire weather conditions.
From Monday through Wednesday, wind gusts are forecast to reach up to 80 mph. The winds combined with locally dry vegetation will increase the risk of wildfire, meaning Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) may be necessary to protect communities.
Currently, more than 250,000 customers in Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura Counties are under consideration for a potential PSPS.
“The incoming wind is predicted to be some of the most intense of the year,” said Aaron Smith, SCE PSPS incident commander. “Ensuring the safety of our customers and communities is our highest priority. We use these shutoffs only as a last resort.”
SCE crews are prepared to respond to any outages caused by high winds, which are forecast to reach up to 80 mph.
To stay up to date on PSPS and wind-related repair outages, visit SCE’s online interactive outage map at sce.com/outagemap. A list of community resources is available on the page.
If power is turned off, SCE will attempt to restore electricity to customers as fast as possible, when it is safe to do so. After the weather event ends, crews will inspect the lines to make sure nothing is damaged and determine if it is safe to re-energize the area. This means customers could be without power even after winds have ended until inspections are completed in their communities.
Where safely possible, power could be restored to customers temporarily if there are lulls in the weather. Further shutoffs may occur if winds return.
Outage and High Winds Safety Tips
- If you see a downed power line, do not touch it or anything in contact with it. Stay at least 100 feet away and call 911 immediately.
- Remember to secure any temporary structures in your backyard or business, including backyard furniture and tents, as well as patio equipment and covers used in commercial settings.
- For additional information, visit Safety Tips for High Wind Conditions.
Background on PSPS:
- Customers can review their contact information and PSPS notifications online by logging into their SCE account. Non-customers can sign up for alerts by visiting sce.com/pspsalerts.
- To help plan for potential PSPS, visit sce.com/pspsweather. This page identifies counties in SCE’s service area that could be affected by dangerous weather conditions up to seven days in advance.
- PSPS is a measure of last resort to protect communities from wildfire. SCE does not shut off power based only on weather forecasts, but rather, based on actual observed conditions.
- SCE uses 1,700 weather stations in the field for real-time reporting and SCE crews actively patrol circuits before and during PSPS events to provide additional information regarding actual weather conditions.
- Before any PSPS event, SCE has plans in place to reduce the number of customers affected and potentially move some customers from affected circuits. Customers who are being switched between circuits might experience a short outage of up to 10 minutes.
- Once a circuit is cleared for inspection, restoration times are typically up to eight hours. There could be delays if helicopter, drone or foot patrols are needed or if damage is found. Some circuits can only be safely inspected in daylight and that may lead to additional delays.
For more information on PSPS decision-making, visit sce.com/psps.
