Northern California blacked out as wind patterns shift Play

Malibu has had it easy for the past year as North America's weather patterns shifted. We had a fairly tame season last year as far as Santa Ana wind storms go. But the wind patterns may be shifting again.

On Sunday, Northern California got hit with Diablo winds — the same kind of winds that we call Santa Anas down here. Electric power was shut off across parts of Northern California as strong, dry winds raised wildfire danger.

Pacific Gas and Electric cut off power to 550 different neighborhoods in the Bay Area yesterday. 47,000 customers were blacked out. PG&E says the outages may continue into today.

Red flag conditions — warnings of severe gusty winds — were predicted in the San Joaquin Valley and Bay Area. PG&E's outage center showed 46,664 customers affected by 549 outages as of Sunday afternoon. Some of those were caused by the winds; others were caused by intentional, protective shutoffs.

No similar winds down here in Southern California are predicted. But Southern California Edison is gearing up for turning off the power, under what they call Public Safety Power Shutoffs. We call them intentional blackouts, and SCE has a policy of shutting off the power if there is a forecast of winds up to 31 miles an hour in any three-second period.

SCE is hosting two upcoming virtual community meetings about this, Tuesday and Thursday. These dog and pony shows are required by the state "to help residents prepare" for intentional blackouts.

The power company is warning that extreme weather is becoming more frequent. That means power outages may last longer, affect larger areas, and take longer to restore, SCE says.

The virtual community meetings — typically just long SCE lectures — are Tuesday and Thursday evening at 6 p.m.

May 19, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: https://wkf.ms/3PIWWeg

May 21, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: https://wkf.ms/41LGHzC