Power outages in the Bay Area topped 11,000 customers on Thursday as parts of the region were seeing critical fire weather conditions and an elevated fire risk possibly into the weekend.
Pacific Gas and Electric said on Thursday that about 6,300 customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties were notified that due to improving weather conditions the utility expected to restore their service by around 4 p.m. Friday. Originally, PG&E said most power shutoffs were forecasted to last until Saturday afternoon
Nearly 90,000 customers across the state were being impacted as of Thursday morning.
The National Weather Service said offshore winds in the higher elevations of the North Bay and East Bay interior mountains would lead to possible extreme fire behavior, with any fires that develop likely spreading rapidly.
The weather service issued a red flag warning for Thursday evening through Friday morning for the North Bay interior mountains, where conditions were expected to be very dry and windy with poor overnight humidity recovery, the weather service said. A fire weather watch also remained in effect through Friday afternoon.
Farther north, a red flag warning was also in effect for parts of Lake County until 2 p.m. Thursday, as well as for parts of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills until Friday. A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are
forecast during the watch time, while a red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are happening now or shortly.
People were urged to exercise extreme caution with any outdoor activities involving fire or potential sparks.
KPIX First Alert Weather: Current conditions, alerts, maps for your area
PG&E began to shut off power in parts of the East Bay Wednesday evening and listed the restoration time as Saturday, Oct. 17.
Pacific Gas and Electric had alerted to possible public safety power shutoffs in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties because of the weather conditions. As of 10 a.m. Thursday, the total number of power outages were:
Alameda - 4,705
Contra Costa - 1,605
Napa - 3,027
Solano - 30
Sonoma - 2,041
View current outages on PG&E's outage map.
The warming trend in the Bay Area is expected to send temperatures climbing well above normal levels, with inland highs forecast to reach into the 80s and low 90s with patches of upper 90s by Friday. Coastal areas will likely see daytime highs in the 60s and 70s.
A cooling trend is expected to begin over the weekend, and a shift in the weather pattern could bring the first storm system of the season with chances of light rain and below-normal temperatures.
