Strong Wind — North Bay Mountains, California

2020-09-08 · North Bay Mountains, California

Event narrative

After a brief lull, the Healdsburg Hills North mesonet (PG&E) station recorded gusts 45 to 55 mph with a peak gust of 59 mph.

Wider weather episode

A large area of high pressure over the west brought excessive heat and dry conditions to the region. Numerous record high temperatures were broken with 13 broken records on Sunday the 6th alone including records set that weekend for the month of September. Temperatures over the long weekend breached 110 degrees across the interior with 90s along the coast to start the weekend and even reaching 100 degrees in San Francisco on Sunday. Once the ridge began to break down towards the end of the weekend, offshore winds increased flaring up some of the wildfires that were ignited during August's lightning storm. These winds also enabled smoke from various wildfires across the state to blanket much of the Bay Area. The skies were tinted orange and red with ash accumulating for many locations.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 917320. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.