Over 15 million under fire weather alerts in California amid dry, windy conditions

2 settimane fa 9

More than 15 million people are under fire weather alerts in California -- including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento -- due to dry and windy conditions.

Relative humidity is forecast as low as 5% in some locations, along with wind gusts up to 55 mph. These conditions, combined with the dry soils and vegetation, can allow fires to both spark and spread easier.

California Fire says they increased staffing across the state for the duration of the Red Flag Warnings. The alerts are currently in effect through Saturday afternoon.

A fire near and into Oakland -- named the Keller fire -- sparked on Friday and has impacted two homes, with dozens threatened. The fire is 35% contained as of the latest official incident report, and has burned 15 acres in Alameda County. Evacuation orders and warnings have been issued.

Another fire that sparked on Friday -- named Mission Fire -- near Riverside is 40% contained after burning 17 acres. Forward progress of the fire has been stopped.

The third fire that sparked Friday is between San Francisco and Sacramento -- named Hay Fire -- and it is 70% contained after burning 869 acres in Solano County outside Fairfield, near Travis Air Force Base.

Tropical Storm Nadine

Tropical Storm Nadine made landfall at 12 p.m. ET near Belize City, Belize, with winds of 60 mph. Up to a foot of rain is possible in the mountainous terrain of inland Belize, as well as portions of southern Mexico in the coming days.

Nadine is expected to weaken significantly as it heads inland, with the National Hurricane Center expecting it to dissipate by late Sunday over southern Mexico.

Nadine has 50 mph sustained winds and is moving west at 8 mph.

Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect from Belize City, Belize, to Cancun, Mexico, including Cozumel.

On the forecast track, the center of Nadine is forecast to make landfall along the coast of Belize late Saturday or around midday, and then continue across northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico late this afternoon into the night.

Widespread 4 to 8 inch rainfall amounts are expected with Nadine across northern Belize, northern Guatemala, and southern Mexican states from Quintana Roo westward to Veracruz.

Isolated areas of amounts exceeding 12 inches are also possible through late Tuesday.

Minor coastal flooding is possible in areas of onshore winds near and to the north of where the center moves inland.

Hurricane Oscar forms

Newly-formed Hurricane Oscar has rapidly strengthened near Turks and Caicos with winds of 80 mph. Only 3 hours after being named a Tropical Storm, the National Hurricane Center upgraded Oscar to a hurricane, with hurricane hunter aircraft noting the small size of the storm.

Oscar has a 24-hour window to strengthen further before unfavorable conditions take over.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the islands of Turks and Caicos, the southern Bahamas and portions of Cuba. Rainfall amounts of 2 to 6 inches are possible from Turks and Caicos to Cuba.