Thunderstorm potential increases wildfire ignition risk on the Central Coast
Wendy Bergen posted this picture on Dave Hovde s Facebook page.
and last updated 2021-07-18 18:24:51-04
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning in effect through 10 am Monday for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties and the Ventura County Mountains. The warning was issued due to an increased threat of thunderstorms with potential for dry lightning and gusty winds.
As the monsoonal moisture interacts with an upper level disturbance off the coast, there is still the concern of lightning activity this afternoon into Monday morning.
Any thunderstorms that develop across Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, as well as the Ventura county mountains, will have a greater threat of drier storms mixing with wet storms along with gusty outflow winds, resulting in an increased risk of fire ignitions and rapid fire spread.
15 confirmed cases reported in region
Concern is continuing to grow among public health officials on the Central and South Coast, with more cases of a COVID-19 variant which is highly transmissible surfacing in the region.
15 cases of what’s known of the “Delta” variant have now been diagnosed in the Tri-Counties. 10 cases have been diagnosed in Ventura County, four in Santa Barbara County, and one in San Luis Obispo County.
State Public Health officials say the number of new COVID-19 cases in the state has been on the upswing, to about a thousand a day. While that’s a fraction of the daily number from six months ago, the numbers had been dropping. And, the majority of the new cases are the Delta variant.
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.-For the past year counties have been working to get through the purple, red, and orange tiers. Ventura County will make it
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But, new case numbers skewing low
The state issued its COVID-19 reopening tier update Tuesday, but Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties all remained at the Orange level.
However, all three counties still appear to be headed in the right direction for more reopenings. 66 new cases were reported Tuesday. Ventura County had 44, Santa Barbara County eight and San Luis Obispo County 14.
There was one additional COVID-19 related death in the region.
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