Forecasters warned Southern California could see a “life-threatening, destructive” windstorm this week, as powerful gusts and dropped humidity levels raise the risk for wildfires in parched areas still recovering from a recent destructive blaze.
Gusts could reach 80 mph (129 kph) across much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties as winds intensify Tuesday into Wednesday, the National Weather Service said Monday. Isolated gusts could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.
“Scattered downed trees and power outages are likely, in addition to rapid fire growth and extreme behavior with any fire starts,” the weather service office for Los Angeles said on X. “Areas not typically windy will be impacted.”
The weather service warned of downed trees, knocked over big rigs and motorhomes, dangerous conditions off the coasts of LA and Orange County, and potential delays at local airports. Public safety power shutoffs are being considered for nearly 300,000 customers across region, according to Southern California Edison's website.
Areas where gusts blowing across tinder-dry vegetation could create "extreme fire conditions” include the charred footprint of last month's wind-driven Franklin Fire, which damaged or destroyed 48 structures, mostly homes, in and around Malibu.
The blaze was one of nearly 8,000 wildfires that scorched more than 1 million acres (more than 404,600 hectares) in the Golden State last year.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there's been very little rain so far this season. Meanwhile, up north, there have been multiple drenching storms.
The “extreme precipitation disparity” between the northern and southern parts of the state is expected to persist throughout the winter, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The Northern California weather systems “have been relatively warm storms, too, maintaining overall warmer than average temperatures across nearly all of California in recent weeks,” Swain wrote Saturday in an update on his website.
Southern California hasn't seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May. Much of the region has fallen into moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The upcoming winds will act as an “atmospheric blow dryer” for vegetation, bringing a long period of fire risk that could extend into the more populated lower hills and valleys, Swain said during a Monday livestream.
Portions of San Diego County have seen the driest start to the season — and driest nine-month period overall — in over 150 years, Swain wrote.
FILE - Flags fly under heavy winds before sunset as a plume of smoke from the Franklin Fire rises over the ocean Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Documents related to the 1968 assassinations of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy will soon be made public as more than 100 people have been working “around the clock” to scan them, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
The documents had been in boxes in storage for decades, Gabbard said.
"I’ve had over 100 people working around the clock to scan the paper around Sen. Robert F Kennedy’s assassination, as well as Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination ... They have never been scanned or seen before,” she said. “We’ll have those ready to release here within the next few days.”
When Kennedy’s son, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also was at the meeting, was asked by President Donald Trump about the impending release of the documents, he said, “I’m very grateful to you Mr. President.”
Trump asked Gabbard if the health secretary had any concerns about releasing the documents.
“His response is, ‘Put it out. The world needs to know the truth,’” Gabbard said.
Searches were also being done of storage lockers at the FBI, CIA and other agencies to see if other documents can be found, Gabbard said.
“We want to get it all out,” Trump said.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to questions seeking information about the effort to identify records about the MLK or RFK assassinations.
Trump had signed an executive order in January after taking office calling for the release of governmental documents related to the assassinations.
King and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated within two months of each other in 1968.
King was outside a motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, when shots rang out. The civil rights leader, who had been in town to support striking sanitation workers, was set to lead marches and other nonviolent protests there.
James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating King. He later though renounced that plea and maintained his innocence up until his death.
Robert F. Kennedy, then a New York senator, was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving his victory speech for winning California’s Democratic presidential primary. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison.
Earlier this week Gabbard announced the creation of a task force that will consider whether the government should declassify material about several other issues of public interest, including the origins of COVID-19, federal efforts to influence online speech and investigations into mysterious health symptoms reported by some U.S. diplomats and government employees that were once dubbed “ Havana syndrome.” Gabbard’s office did not specify how the task force would be appointed or when it expects to submit its recommendations.
Lozano reported from Houston.
Associated Press writer David Klepper in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at juanlozano70
Elon Musk, center, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, right, attend a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Pool via AP)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from left, speaks as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought and White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz listen during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Washington. (Pool via AP)
FILE - Senator Robert F. Kennedy, D-NY, told reporters, and the nation, that he is a candidate for his party's presidential nomination, March 16, 1968, Washington. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Dr. Martin Luther King speaks March 25, 1967 at the Chicago peace march. (AP Photo/Chick Harrity, File)
