High Wind — Carquinez Strait and Delta, California

2019-10-27 · Carquinez Strait and Delta, California

Event narrative

The weather station at Travis Airforce Base reported a non-thunderstorm related wind gust up to 64 mph. Earlier in the morning, before this peak gust occurred, the local fire department reported that downed trees and power lines were observed in the Fairfield area.

Wider weather episode

Critical fire weather conditions were forecast for Oct 23-24 and again on October 27-28 with the eastern Pacific High allowing trough to slide into the Great Basin/Nevada areas. This caused the pressure gradients to tighten over the county warning area, which lead to additional rounds of strong northerly and easterly winds. With these winds forecast, dry conditions still in place, and fuels still being primed a Red Flag Warning was issued for most of interior northern California. Fortunately no major wildfires resulted from this but utility power lines did suffer from wind and tree damage across much of northern California. Time stamps for events are based on strongest wind gusts that occurred between Oct 23-38.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 863135. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.