Ida made landfall as a category 4 hurricane over the weekend, falling on Hurricane Katrina's 16th anniversary. The destructive storm system brought up to 150 mph winds through Louisiana. Multiple flash flood warnings remain through the night, along with a Tornado Watch for parts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi through 6 am Central Daylight Time. During this time we could experience isolated wind gusts up to 70 mph.
Here in California we deal with our own tragedies, as wildfires continue to burn throughout the state, including here in Kern County. This is why we continue to see that unhealthy air quality for those sensitive groups, with an AQI of 129 for Monday.
We saw a big jump in temperatures for the weekend, with a Heat Advisory for the Valley and an Excessive Heat warning for our desert communities. The excessive heat advisory has since expired for the San Joaquin Valley, but the warning remains in effect for the desert through Monday evening.
Temperatures will be in the triple digits in the vicinity of the French Fire too, which will make fighting the fire more difficult.
However, we do have some good news! A trough will bring cooler conditions about mid-week.
Along with this, we will also see some breezier conditions in our wind prone areas. We want to watch this closely as it hits the Lake Isabella area, with the possibility of posing challenges when fighting the French Fire.
