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Bay Area Wildfires: Glass Fire Near Santa Rosa Explodes Overnight, Prompts Evacuation Orders

Homes on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa were under assault early Monday morning and residents had been ordered to flee from the flames of a fast-burning fire that broke out Sunday — the largest in the Bay Area and one of the 27 fires currently burning around California. The Glass Fire swelled to 11,000 acres with zero containment by Monday morning, according to CalFire — more than 8,000 new acres burned overnight.

Northern California Braces For Fire Weather As Southland Expects Rain — Those Events Are Related

Dangerous fire weather is returning to broad swaths of Northern California at the same time as Southern California is expecting its first winter storm of the season to produce widespread rain.

And the two events are related.

Red flag warnings sounding the alarm for fire weather for parts of the Bay Area and northern Sacramento Valley will go into effect from 4 a.m. Wednesday through 7 a.m. Thursday for strong, dry winds coming from the north and northeast. Velocities of 20 to 30 mph are expected, with gusts as high as 45 mph and perhaps in excess of 60 mph near such locations as Mt. St. Helena and Mt. Diablo.

Will It Rain Soon And End Bay Area’s Fire Season? It May Be Up To Russia

Say what you will about Russian interference, it just might get us Northern Californians out of this year’s precarious fire season.

Meteorologists are forecasting that around Nov. 10, a strong jet stream originating from Russia is likely to undercut the dominant high-pressure ridge sitting off the coast and provide much-needed moisture to the West Coast.

“Now the question is, how confident are we?” said Brent Wachter, a fire meteorologist with the North Operations Predictive Service. “Not very. But there’s a glimmer of hope.”