When I look in the direction of the fire it seems to have died down and is mostly smoldering now:Lilac Fire

But the winds are supposed to pick up later this afternoon once again and we are in a Santa Ana condition throughout Southern California until at least Sunday and part of the condition continues until Wednesday.  Though the winds have somewhat subsided this morning they are going to pick up around noon once again and likely will spread the fires once again. So, we are at a lull in the fire but the worst winds of the Santa Ana were last night which were up to 90 miles and hour some places.

It strange to be so near this kind of fire where so many people just lost their homes since 11 am yesterday morning. but, this is a part of the risks of living in Southern California. Even when I was growing up as a child in Glendale many of my friends lost homes in Junior High and High School from houses (usually the nicest ones) up on top of hills that had a lot of vegetation on them and in valleys near by those vegetated hills. So, since I was 8 or 10 years old in Tujunga and Glendale fires have just been something we live with here in Southern California along with Earthquakes periodically too.

The air is so dry there is no fog of any kind within 10 to 20 miles of the coastline out to sea also. Though the sea breeze this morning will come into Oceanside a little (and some people are scared it will drive the fire inland or more south into homes) this likely won't happen too much because the winds aren't over 8 or 10 miles an hour and won't last more than a few hours from off the ocean before the Santa Ana Winds will return from the deserts blowing out to sea.

where I am presently at 9:30 it is 65 degrees Fahrenheit and we expect it to be about 80 degrees locally as well today. by Sunday it is going to be 85 degrees here so you know we likely are having a Santa Ana off the inland deserts to have temperatures this high this time of year because if the winds were coming off the ocean it likely would be in the 60s.

It is also 77 degrees in Palm Springs right nowwhich is usually one of the warmest places in the state with temperatures sometimes at 125 to 127 degrees in August in the inland desert. All their power is supplied by windmills there.