moisture

“We know that that warmth dried out the vegetation. And we know that a certain fraction of the moisture deficit that we had when the fires started can be attributed to that unusual warmth.”

The camellias and azaleas were last watered Jan. 7, and the hot dry Santa Ana winds suck moisture from even well-hydrated potted plants.

This pattern, known as a weather regime, does something insidious to the landscape: It dramatically increases the atmosphere’s thirst for moisture.

As a result, the fuel moisture levels are lower than they should be and primed conditions for the wildfires to ignite.

Strong winds, combined with low humidity values around 10% and critically dry fuel moisture, has created severe fire weather conditions for Tuesday going into Wednesday, Westerink said.