The National Weather Service issued a High Wind Advisory for North Central California that expired at 11 p.m. on Sunday night. Conditions are expected to continue into Tuesday, when another wind front will reach the Davis area.
“The wind advisory was allowed to expire, and tomorrow should be fairly calm,” said Sierra Littlefield, a meteorologist at the Sacramento Weather Forecast Office.
Still, the next front could “reach upwards of 40 mph at night, and still be pretty breezy in the day,” according to Littlefield.
This weekend, northeast winds averaged around 30 to 40 mph and reached upward of 65 mph in areas with higher elevation.
There have been several reports of fallen trees and power lines on campus and in the surrounding areas, causing road blockages and leaving many residents in the dark. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District reported there being as many as 200 active outages with more than 20,000 total customers affected at one point on Sunday — with 4,000 of those customers located in Davis, according to a PG&E report obtained by UC Davis campus officials.
“The power outages are wind related and not part of [the PG&E] Planned Shutoffs,” tweeted the City of Davis Police Department.
Davis received an Air Quality Index score of 156 by the Environmental Protection Agency, indicating unhealthy levels of particulate matter in the air blown in by the high winds. A petition was started by user “Fire Out” on Sunday at 3 a.m., calling for the cessation of instruction at UC Davis until the air quality improves; more than 4,800 have signed it.
“Similar to last year, we should have the same procedures and expectations to close down the school and classes until the conditions are healthy for us to breathe in,” the petition states.
At 5:56 p.m., however, a UC Davis Aggie Alert was sent to notify staff and students that class will resume as usual.
There is concern that the current weather conditions could fuel the spread of several fires currently burning through Northern California. One county of specific concern is Sonoma, where the Kincade Fire has continued to grow, forcing nearly 200,000 to evacuate. A Red Flag Warning will be in effect through early Monday for the Sacramento area.
“It’s really dry, the moisture levels are still low […] so try to avoid anything that could start a spark,” Littlefield said.
UC Davis has provided safety information on its website and will continue to update students through WarnMe messages and social media.
Written by: Megan Tsang — city@theaggie.org
