LAKE COUNTY — Electric power restoration was underway in Lake County on Wednesday as winds tapered off, a weather “red flag warning” expired, and locals hoped for some relief from the latest in a series of Pacific Gas and Electric Company planned outages that have put some of them in the dark for more than seven days this month.
But as winds eased up, temperatures were predicted to drop slightly with humidity also remaining low, according to National Weather Service forecasts.
In Lake County, NWS Sacramento forecaster Sierra Littlefield said humidity levels would remain “in the teens through the weekend” due to dry winds continuing from the northeast. Sustained wind speeds were only expected to reach up to around 10 mph, she said. Temperatures “right around freezing”—37 degrees Thursday night, and climbing slightly each night through the weekend—would create some frost, she added.
Overall, Littlefield indicated, weather conditions were predicted to be something of a relief. “We finally are looking a lot better,” she said. No more red flag warnings or fire weather watches were in the forecast for the NWS, she noted.
In a live video streaming Wednesday afternoon, Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin noted that non-mandatory evacuation warnings remained in effect for the Kincade Fire in some parts of southern Lake County including Middletown and Cobb areas.
Regarding the power shutoff, Martin said that during a conference call between PG&E and government officials Wednesday afternoon, the utility had said it planned on getting most Lake County residents re-energized by that night.
“They expect 80 percent of power to be restored in Lake County by nightfall tonight,” Martin said. He added that the locations of that 80 percent, as well as the location of the remaining 20, was not yet known.
More than 37,000 PG&E customers had been without electric power in Lake County since Saturday (except for about 2,000 who regained electricity for a few hours beginning Monday night).
PG&E said Wednesday that 516,000 customers throughout 22 counties in California had been affected by the latest shutoff.
