Thursday, October 17, 2024

Red Flag Day makes sand really blow at the ocean here in Northern California near San Francisco

 Most people were not at the ocean today because it was around 60 degrees with 25 to 50 mile per hour constant winds and gusts. The sand was blowing across the highway that was paved and there were up to 1 foot high drifts of sand building up from the ocean. It's called a Red Flag day until Saturday night because with warmer winds like this blowing somewhat off shore it can cause fires by blowing power lines down or from literally any cause like a lighted cigarette butt or sparking from engines or exhaust or literally anything. So, especially inland this could be a problem for any existing small fires that could be blown into much larger fires or fires accidentally being lit by falling power lines.

They said there is at least a 50% chance that over 200,000 connections to power could be shut off in the north state because of these winds and the potential of power lines blowing down and starting fires at this point either Friday or Saturday.

I don't think the drifts where we were were enough to get stuck in because they tended to be drifts only 3 feet wide but over 20 or 30 feet long drifts in the direction the sand was blowing. However, if someone didn't know how to drive through this stuff I suppose some people might get stuck.

No comments: