(ETH) – Southern California is still struggling to contain a fast-moving wildfire that has now forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people and has seriously injured two firefighters as powerful winds across the state prompted power to be cut to hundreds of thousands to prevent just such a possibility.
Incredible wind speeds have recently been recorded in the Bay Area, including a 58 mph wind at the Oakland Airport, a 72 mph gust on Mount Diablo near Blackhawk, and an 89 mph wind on Mount St. Helena, 5.8 miles south of Middletown with the Tahoe Basin experiencing some of the highest wind speeds, and the National Weather Service confirmed an official 94 mph reading at a gauge on a peak in Alpine Meadows.
However, Speeds that reached over 100 mph were recorded on exposed ridgetops at several ski resort anemometers that aren’t monitored by the weather service for accuracy including a measurement of 102 at Mammath Mountain, 119 mph at a different Alpine Meadows location, and a stunning 140 mph at the top of Chair 6 (elev. 9,186 feet) at Kirkwood Mountain Resort.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Zeta has now moved back into the Gulf of Mexico and is projected to make landfall on Wednesday as the 11th hurricane of the season and will impact the northern U.S. Gulf Coast, where it’s being forecasted to bring heavy rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.
This hurricane is forecasted to impact locations farther inland across portions of the South with lots of rain. The Weather Channel is stating that Hurricane and storm surge warnings are now posted for the northern Gulf Coast ahead of Zeta.
