THE WEATHER BEAT · OCT 14

Santa Ana watches become High Wind Warnings: gusts to 70 mph Thursday through Saturday, Red Flag Warnings from Los Angeles to the Sierra

Los Angeles and San Diego forecasters moved from watches to High Wind Warnings for gusts of 50 to 70 mph, with humidity forecast as low as 5 percent and.

By the Weather Rock October 14, 2026, 3:25 p.m. · 11 min read

GOES satellite view of the event region — GOES visible view of California and the Southwest on the afternoon of October 14, 2026, the day the High Wind Warnings were issued. Image: NOAA GOES-West GeoColor via NASA GIBS, 2026-10-14 00:00Z.

Key points

On Wednesday late morning, NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard and NWS San Diego put High Wind Warnings on the Southern California mountains, passes and inland valleys. They cover Thursday through Saturday and forecast gusts of 50 to 70 mph.
Red Flag Warnings now cover the valleys and coasts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the southern Sierra Nevada, and the Sierra foothills from Tehama County to Placer County. Los Angeles/Oxnard expects minimum humidity of 5 to 15 percent.
The offshore wind also brings heat. Heat Advisories for temperatures up to 95 run from 10 a.m. Thursday to 8 p.m. Saturday along the coast from San Luis Obispo County to San Diego County. Farther east, NWS El Paso issued High Wind Warnings for gusts up to 65 mph behind a backdoor cold front Thursday night.

Today, officially

On Tuesday the Southern California offices were still talking in watches. By late Wednesday morning they had moved to warnings. NWS San Diego sent its High Wind Warnings at 11:16 a.m. PDT, and NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard sent its warnings at 11:38 a.m. PDT. The warnings cover the same mountains and passes that Tuesday's watches covered: the San Gabriel and Santa Susana mountains, the Interstate 5 Corridor, the San Gorgonio Pass, and the mountains of San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties. They also cover the Inland Empire and the San Diego County inland valleys.

The wind had already started before the warnings went out. In its 9:41 a.m. PDT discussion, the Los Angeles/Oxnard office wrote that "the more sensitive sites in the mountains are already getting north to northeast winds between 40 and 50 mph," with gusts of 25 to 35 mph in the western San Fernando Valley. The office expects those winds to ease Wednesday afternoon when the sea breeze returns, followed by "a bigger and more widespread increase in Santa Ana winds Thursday through Saturday, peaking Friday." San Diego's warnings say the same: Friday is the strongest day.

Los Angeles/Oxnard expects the highest gusts in its area, 50 to 70 mph, along the Interstate 5 Corridor, the Highway 14 Corridor and in the San Gabriels. San Diego's single highest figure is for the San Bernardino County Mountains: gusts to 60 mph, and up to 70 mph locally below the San Gorgonio Pass. Most of these warnings use the same impacts line: "Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are expected." The Inland Empire warning is a little milder. It says outages are possible, and it calls for gusts over 60 mph near the Cajon Pass.

The fire products are the ones to watch. On Tuesday afternoon Los Angeles/Oxnard upgraded its Fire Weather Watch to a Red Flag Warning. The warning covers most of the valleys and coasts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties from 6 a.m. Thursday to 10 p.m. Friday, and its headline reads "HIGH RISK FOR EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR WITH ANY NEW FIRE STARTS." Other offices followed on Wednesday. NWS Hanford issued Red Flag Warnings at 10:30 a.m. PDT for the Tehachapi area, Fort Tejon and the southern Sierra up to the crest. NWS Sacramento issued one at 10:14 a.m. PDT for the Sierra Nevada and its foothills, starting at midnight tonight, with daytime humidity of 10 to 25 percent "with single digits possible." NWS Eureka posted a Red Flag Warning for eastern Lake County, including Clearlake and Middletown, from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday.

The heat arrives with the wind. Air that sinks down the mountains warms as it falls. In its discussion, Los Angeles/Oxnard expects upper 80s to lower 90s in almost all coastal and valley locations on Thursday, and adds that "unlike earlier heat events this warm up will be accompanied by single digit humidities."

The same air mass reaches the interior Southwest by a different route. NWS El Paso issued High Wind Warnings at 1:18 p.m. MDT for northeast winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 65 mph. They cover El Paso and Hudspeth counties and parts of Otero County, the Sacramento Mountains, and the Bootheel of southern New Mexico. The office's text names the cause: a "backdoor cold front arriving Thursday night." NWS Albuquerque kept its High Wind Watch for the Albuquerque Metro Area and the Rio Grande Valley, with gusts up to 60 mph from Thursday evening through Friday morning. NWS Midland/Odessa has a watch for gusts up to 60 mph through Guadalupe Pass.

The numbers, by product

Office, sent	Product	Area	Wind, humidity or heat	When
Los Angeles/Oxnard, 11:38 a.m. PDT Wed	High Wind Warning	Santa Susana Mtns, I-5 Corridor, San Gabriel Mtns and Hwy 14, western Santa Monica Mtns	NE 25 to 45 mph, gusts 50 to 70	6 a.m. Thu to 8 p.m. Fri
Los Angeles/Oxnard, 11:38 a.m. PDT Wed	Wind Advisory	San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Ventura County valleys and mountains	NE 20 to 30 mph, gusts 35 to 55	6 a.m. Thu to 8 p.m. Fri
Los Angeles/Oxnard, 2:38 p.m. PDT Tue	Red Flag Warning	Most valleys and coasts of LA and Ventura counties	gusts 40 to 50, isolated 50 to 60 in hills; RH 5 to 15 percent	6 a.m. Thu to 10 p.m. Fri
Los Angeles/Oxnard, 11:38 a.m. PDT Wed	Heat Advisory	SLO, Santa Barbara, Ventura and LA County coasts, Downtown LA	up to 95	10 a.m. Thu to 8 p.m. Sat
San Diego, 11:16 a.m. PDT Wed	High Wind Warning	San Bernardino County Mtns	gusts to 60, locally 70 below San Gorgonio Pass	6 a.m. Thu to 8 p.m. Fri
San Diego, 11:16 a.m. PDT Wed	High Wind Warning	San Gorgonio Pass near Banning	NE to E 30 to 40 mph, gusts 50 to 65	6 a.m. Thu to midnight Sat
San Diego, 11:16 a.m. PDT Wed	High Wind Warning	Riverside and San Diego County Mtns	gusts 50 to 65	6 a.m. Thu to midnight Sat
San Diego, 11:16 a.m. PDT Wed	High Wind Warning	Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills	gusts 50 to 65	6 a.m. Thu to noon Sat
San Diego, 11:16 a.m. PDT Wed	High Wind Warning	Inland Empire	gusts to 55, over 60 near Cajon Pass	6 a.m. Thu to 8 p.m. Sat
San Diego, 11:16 a.m. PDT Wed	High Wind Warning	San Diego County Valleys	gusts 45 to 55 east, 35 to 45 west	8 p.m. Thu to 8 p.m. Sat
San Diego, 11:16 a.m. PDT Wed	Heat Advisory	Orange County, coastal San Diego County	upper 80s to mid 90s	10 a.m. Thu to 8 p.m. Sat
Hanford, 10:30 a.m. PDT Wed	Red Flag Warning	Tehachapi, Fort Tejon, southern Sierra	70 to 90 percent chance of gusts over 40 on one of the two days; RH 15 to 25 percent	3 a.m. Thu to 10 p.m. Fri
Sacramento, 10:14 a.m. PDT Wed	Red Flag Warning	Sierra Nevada and foothills, Tehama to Placer counties	gusts 25 to 45; RH 10 to 25 percent	midnight tonight to 10 a.m. Fri
Eureka, 11:41 a.m. PDT Wed	Red Flag Warning	Eastern and northern Lake County	gusts 30 to 40; RH 15 to 20 percent	4 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thu
El Paso, 1:18 p.m. MDT Wed	High Wind Warning	El Paso and Hudspeth counties, Otero County, Sacramento Mtns	NE 30 to 40 mph, gusts to 65	6 p.m. Thu to noon Fri
El Paso, 1:18 p.m. MDT Wed	High Wind Warning	NM Bootheel, southern Hidalgo and Grant counties	E 30 to 40 mph, gusts to 65	9 p.m. Thu to midnight Fri
Albuquerque, 12:16 p.m. MDT Wed	High Wind Watch	Albuquerque Metro, Rio Grande Valley	E 30 to 40 mph, gusts to 60	Thu evening to Fri morning
Midland/Odessa, 8:55 a.m. MDT Wed	High Wind Watch	Guadalupe Mountains	NE 40 to 50 mph, gusts to 60	Thu evening to Sat afternoon

Source: NWS alerts as read from api.weather.gov at 19:23Z on October 14, 2026, and the NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard Area Forecast Discussion of 9:41 a.m. PDT. Times in the table are the products' own sent times and WHEN lines. Wording can change with later issuances.

This is a summary of official warnings, not emergency information. For live warnings see weather.gov and your local officials. The Los Angeles/Oxnard office page is https://www.weather.gov/lox/, the San Diego office page is https://www.weather.gov/sgx/, and the El Paso office page is https://www.weather.gov/epz/.

The rock's live forecast for the places in this story