More Strong Winds Predicted for the Weekend

Damaging winds may be poised to again rake Southern California, as the National Weather Service (NWS) warns that "strong and potentially damaging offshore winds" will again buffet the area this weekend.

But the highest peak winds -- 65 mile per hour gusts -- will not approach the hurricane velocities that blew down trees and power lines in late November, the NWS said.

The NWS issued a special weather message late Friday, warning that very- high pressure is again building up over the Great Basin, threatening to send another blast of dry and cold air southwestward through the mountains, towards Los Angeles.

In the gustiest areas, winds of 25-40 mph, with 65 mph gusts, will develop Saturday night and persist all day Sunday. Those areas are the traditional gust zones: the Santa Clarita Valley, Newhall Pass, and the Santa Monica Mountains, including Topanga, Malibu, and the Hollywood Hills.

Lesser winds will hit the San Gabriel Valley, with 40 mph top gusts expected there. Some streets there are still littered with downed tree limbs from the massive windstorm that struck in late November, blacking out some areas for a week and forcing the evacuation of dozens of tree-damaged homes.

-- City News Service