This comes just two weeks after the first major power shutoff across Northern California which affected more than 2 million people. High winds were anticipated around Northern California. “Based on the latest weather readings, PG&E will be turning off power in portions of our service area as outlined below,” was a previous announcement. The Wednesday afternoon blackouts involved parts of Alpine, Amado, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sierra, Tehama, Yuba, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties. Other areas will be added and the power outages could last longer than 48 hours. On the other part, the Edison company could cut power to over 300,000 customers.
The National Weather Service reports high winds are possible Saturday night into Sunday, and again Sunday night into early Monday. The humidity levels will likely still be low as the system is dropping down from the Northwest, sweeping through the Great Basin into Northern California and carrying a dry air mass.