California Fires: Today Is A Particularly Dangerous Day

Aerial view of destroyed Santa Rosa, CA cul de sac
Phot by Josh Edelson/Getty Images

The death toll from this week's California wildfires keeps rising and was 35 at last check.

Given the forecast for today and tonight, things might be about to get much worse today.

Gusty winds yesterday continued to spread the flames, but more and more firefighters are pouring into California, and some fires are now at least partially contained.

However in both northern and southern California today and tonight, the weather will turn gruesome again. Hot, dry winds - almost as strong as those that set off the northern California firestorm Sunday night, are forecast to resume today and continue overnight.

Similarly, hot dry Santa Ana winds are forecast for the same period in southern California. This could rapidly spread existing fires, and touch off new, dangerous ones.

At least the focus is on California now, and, as noted, there are now plenty of firefighters deployed in parts of the state.

Even if people heed evacuation orders in a timely fashion, I'm sure more homes and businesses will go up in flames.

In hard hit Santa Rosa, population 175,000, more than five percent of the city's housing stock went up in flames, says NPR.

So far, 90,000 people have been evacuated and 5,700 California homes have burned down in the fires. This is easily the worst fire disaster in modern California history.

Areas away from the immediate fire zone continue to deal with bad air quality from the smoke. NBC News says the fires emitted as much air pollution in a week as all the cars in California do in a year.

Hospitals are reporting an influx of people with breathing problems. Outdoor activities, such as sporting events and a half marathon, have been canceled in the Bay Area. The NFL is considering moving the Oakland Raiders vs. Los Angeles Chargers game out of Oakland if the pollution persists.

By the way, it will be weeks before the California fire season ends. The state's most dangerous and most destructive wildfires tend to occur in October and November.

Computer models are giving mixed messages on a not-so-powerful storm that could come ashore in northern California next weekend. It will likely drop some rain, which will help, but it's unclear how much precipitation will come along.

It's almost guarateed to be not enough to totally end the fire risk. And very little rain is anticipated in southern California.