Bay Area heat records toppled as strong winds spur PG&E warning of widespread outages

Another set of heat records fell across the North Bay on Monday as a two-day period of strong offshore winds was set to ramp up for a second straight night, leading PG&E to warn of potential power outages due to wind damage.

Santa Rosa hit 80 degrees on Monday, shattering a record for Jan. 18 that had stood since 1976, when the high mark was 74 degrees. Other records fell in Napa, Marin counties and in San Francisco, the East Bay and South Bay, marking the second straight day of extraordinary January heat in the Bay Area, with parts of Central and Southern California under even more extreme winter red flag warnings.

The strong winds that downed trees and power lines across the North Bay overnight Sunday were expected to return Monday for a second night, prompting PG&E officials to warn of possible power outages throughout Sonoma County.

Winds were forecast at up to 30 mph, with gusts reaching about 70 mph, prompting the National Weather Service to upgrade a high wind advisory to a warning for parts of the North Bay at 1,000 feet or higher.

“It’s a round two of sorts,” said Gerry Diaz, a meteorologist with the weather service. “The strongest winds will be at some of the higher peaks, so we can’t rule out the possibility of 80 mph gusts.”

The warning is set to expire Tuesday morning at 7 a.m.

No power preemptive power shutoffs were planned in the Bay Area, but PG&E was alerting customers in the region to prepare for potential outages. Strong winds knocked out power to over 4,000 homes and businesses Sunday night and early Monday morning, according to utility spokeswoman Deanna Contreras.

By Monday afternoon, crews had restored electricity to all but 10 customers scattered throughout the county, Contreras said.

To reduce fire risk associated with its equipment, the utility was preparing to cut off electricity to 5,465 customers in Fresno, Kern, Madera, Mariposa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Tulare counties

PG&E was also adding crews in case of downed power lines Monday night into Tuesday.

“Were beefing up to expect more outages than on Sunday night,” Contreras said.

The majority of Sunday and Monday’s outages were in east Santa Rosa, where about 3,500 customers lost power for about an hour starting around 5:30 a.m. In Glen Ellen and Kenwood, roughly 700 customers experienced outages around the same time.

In addition, about 1,600 customers in Sonoma momentarily lost power for around a minute early Monday morning.

The forecast winds, coupled with unseasonably warm temperatures, prompted the weather service on Monday to issue a rare winter red flag warning for large swaths of Southern and Central California. In the North Bay, however, recent rainstorms were seen to have dampened brush and increased soil moisture enough to stave off such a warning, said Diaz, the meteorologist.

Early on Monday morning, winds topped out at 87 mph at Pine Flat Road in the Geyserville hills and 77 mph at Mount St. Helena, according to the National Weather Service. Powerful gusts exceeded 40 mph in lower elevations throughout Sonoma County.

About 5:30 a.m., Santa Rosa firefighters responded to downed power lines near Brush Creek Road at Shadowhill Drive. The lines sparked a very small in fire in the yard of one home, which was quickly snuffed out, said Santa Rosa Fire Battalion Chief Jason Jenkins.

The eastbound lane of Airport Boulevard at Old Redwood Highway in Santa Rosa was closed for much of Monday morning and early afternoon due to a fallen tree and traffic signal, according to Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works.

Also on Monday, towering 20-foot waves triggered an extension of a high surf advisory along the Sonoma Coast, which expired at 6 p.m.

The strong winds overnight came on the heals of a streak of record temperatures set Sunday, including in Santa Rosa, where the high reached 74, breaking the previous mark of 71 set in 1991.

On Monday, other Bay Area spots that hit all-time highs for Jan. 18 included Napa at 77 degrees, Kentfield at 78, San Francisco at 72, Oakland at 79 and Redwood City at 76.

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian