Weather Alert for Strong Santa Ana Winds, Blowing Dust, Poor Air Quality for Coachella Valley Through Wednesday

A strong and potentially dangerous Santa Ana wind event is ahead for a large portion of Southern California mid week. Santa Ana winds coming out of the Northeast will bring gusty winds, the potential for power outages, down trees or power lines, dry and dusty conditions and reduced visibility from blowing sand.

While the strongest winds won't be across the Coachella Valley, air quality will impact just about all of us--it's even listed as hazardous in several locations.

Cooler temperatures are expected in the Coachella Valley on tomorrow, along with continuing strong, gusty north to northeasterly winds from the Santa Ana system. These winds will bring critical fire weather conditions to some areas today.

In fact we saw three fires that saw rapid fire growth in Los Angeles County:

The strongest winds are anticipated tonight into Wednesday, with the highest risk for damaging winds along and below the coastal mountain slopes, extending into the Inland Empire and inland Orange County.

The High Wind Warning and Red Flag Warnings don't extend through the entire Coachella Valley, however do include spots like the San Gorgonio Pass, Banning, Desert Hot springs, Cabazon, Anza and Idllywild. Portions of the high desert like 29 Palms and Yucca Valley are under a Wind Advisory.

The Santa Ana winds have been powerful this afternoon. Here's a look at some of our peak gusts earlier today:

Critical to locally extreme fire weather conditions are expected throughout the day tomorrow. While the Santa Ana winds and dry air will continue, Thursday and Friday will still experience periods of critical fire weather, though winds will begin decreasing.

Temperatures will warm up by Friday and Saturday with lighter winds, before cooler and breezier conditions return early next week.