AccuWeather California expert Ken Clark breaks down the conditions leading to the extreme growth of the Hughes Fire near Castaic, California.
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00:00Santa Ana winds have been howling at times this weekend. The threat from
00:04wildfires is still a big problem keeping Californians on edge. Yeah for the very
00:09latest we turn to AccuWeather California expert Ken Clark. Thanks for
00:12being with us Ken. Sure. Yeah Ken we have big concerns as just extremely rapid
00:19fire spread has taken over over the past three or four hours near Castaic Lake.
00:23Can you tell us the latest on what you're aware of with that fire? The
00:27latest is that the acreage was over 5,000 acres. It's more than that now
00:32looking at what's going on. Evacuation orders and warnings are out. About, I've
00:37been checking my figures, 19,000 people right now under evacuation orders. That
00:41means you have to get out. 15,000 people under evacuation warnings and those
00:46numbers are likely to go up and right now the I-5, the whole I-5 corridor from
00:52near Castaic all the way northward to Grapevine Road is closed, totally closed.
00:57The major route out of Southern California into the Central Valley is
01:01now closed. Well we're seeing on the right side of the screen a lot of the
01:06smoke from it this fire. This is having big impacts here and this is amid
01:11another Santa Ana wind event. Yeah the winds right now in that area are blowing
01:15anywhere from 25 to 45 miles per hour and those winds are likely to go up as
01:20we go through this evening and tonight into tomorrow. The humidity levels are as
01:24low as they get. They're in the single digits as low as two, three percent in
01:28some areas. So this is really helping to fuel this fast-moving fire. We got very
01:33dry conditions. We've got the wind and the winds are going to come up even more.
01:38Right now that fire has been mostly on the east side of Castaic Lake but all
01:43this housing developments, all the businesses are on the west side of the
01:47lake and that is where the fire is just starting to get into now. So the most
01:51serious problems are from here on out as the fire moves west and southwest. It
01:56looks like a lot of the population is at west but also kind of the southwest
01:59corner I guess below the dam and so forth. It appears that and west of there.
02:03That's correct and this is why there's they're so concerned about this. The
02:09winds, the rapid spread of this fire and now that we're getting into more of a
02:13residential area and they've extended the evacuation orders now into Ventura
02:18County as well. So you know this is the seriousness of this situation. If it gets
02:22west of the I-5 corridor, gets to the I-5 corridor and west of there, there are a
02:27lot of houses and a lot of businesses in that area. And Ken we do want to briefly
02:32look ahead to the weekend because there are some changes on the way that are
02:36going to help with the wildfire danger. There is a likelihood of rain this
02:41weekend especially from late Saturday through the day Sunday maybe lingering
02:46into Monday. We expect showers maybe even a thunderstorm. Rainfall amounts
02:51will depend on where this load goes to but if anything the models have been
02:55inching upward in the rainfall amounts. It's good news and bad news. We're not
03:00right now looking at maybe half-inch to maybe three-quarters of an inch rain
03:03with local amounts to one inch. Unfortunately when that falls on all
03:07this ash, all the bare ground we already have, we're looking at maybe some
03:13more problems just because of that. So you know we're going from one thing to
03:16the other but at least we need the rain so we've got to take the rain when we can
03:20get it. It's gonna be much much cooler as well. Snow will fall in the mountains.
03:24All right Ken, well we will be closely watching that situation. We appreciate
03:28your insight as always. We need the rain. Very concerned about places like
03:32Altadena when that rain picks back up because well it's going to flow downhill
03:37and you got populated areas in Pasadena down the hill there. We have a lot of
03:41ash just laying there and that rainfall is going to move when the rain falls so
03:46it's it's not a good situation with rain either. Yeah we need the rain but it's a
03:51catch-22. Ken, we appreciate your insight as always. We'll continue to follow this
03:55fire near Castaic Lake as well. Thanks again for joining us Ken. You're welcome.