Heat advisory holds over Huntington Beach through Saturday evening as Santa Ana winds fuel fires in south county

Huntington Beach is under a National Weather Service heat advisory through 8 p.m. Saturday, with high temperatures in the upper 80s to the mid 90s expected across the Orange County coastal areas, the weather service said. The advisory was first issued Friday at 8:41 p.m. and updated early Saturday. It also covers the San Diego County coastal areas, and overnight lows were expected to stay in the high 60s to low 70s.

Saturday's forecast high for Huntington Beach is 88 degrees, according to the local forecast listings that carry the weather service alerts, a hot October beach day on a busy outdoor weekend. The California Wine Festival's Beachside Wine Festival runs indoors and outdoors at the Pasea Hotel & Spa from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, with VIP entry at noon, according to the festival's published schedule.

An aerial view of the Huntington Beach shoreline, Pacific Coast Highway and the neighborhoods behind the Santa Ana River mouth. The advisory covers the Orange County coastal areas, with overnight lows only in the high 60s to low 70s.

Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

The heat is arriving on dry Santa Ana winds that blow from the interior toward the coast, the Associated Press reported. The strongest winds were expected through Friday afternoon, but conditions that increase the fire risk were expected to last through Saturday night, with the heat advisory in effect until 8 p.m. Saturday on the Orange County and San Diego County coast, the weather service said, according to the Associated Press.

Those winds drove the Norte Fire, which started in San Clemente on Friday and moved into San Juan Capistrano, burning at least six homes and prompting about 16,000 residents to evacuate by Friday night, the Associated Press reported, citing Orange County Fire Authority Chief TJ McGovern. A state release said the fire ignited just after 11:30 a.m. Friday, burned approximately 465 acres and was threatening nearly 13,000 people, and that California had secured federal Fire Management Assistance Grant funding to help cover suppression costs.

"Had these winds been a little bit stronger, a little bit different direction, this could have been a whole lot worse," said San Clemente Mayor Rick Loeffler, according to the Associated Press. The Associated Press also reported that two firefighters were taken to the hospital with heat related injuries.

A brown pelican on the waterfront at Huntington Beach. The National Weather Service advises limiting strenuous activity to the early morning or evening while the advisory is in effect.

stevelyon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

The South Coast AQMD air quality alert tied to wildfire smoke names San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Niguel, not Huntington Beach, according to the weather service alert text. Air quality in Huntington Beach read Good on Saturday morning in the local forecast listings.

The weather service urges people in the advisory area to drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air conditioned room when they can, stay out of the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors, and to limit strenuous activities to the early morning or evening.