CNN News:美国加州再次因野火断电 西部将迎来暴风雪
From northern Washington, were moving two states south to northern California where wind speeds of 70 miles per hour were in the forecast Sunday. That makes wildfire conditions very dangerous. And that's why Pacific Gas and Electric shut off power to at least 386,000 homes and businesses.
It's done this before. The company is trying to prevent its equipment from starting fires in the dry windy conditions. And that can happen if power lines blow over for instance. The winds flowing from east to west across northern California are called the Diablo Winds.
They typically blow from the direction of California's Mount Diablo, which is where they get their name. They can be at their worst in the Fall. And what makes them so dangerous during wildfires is that they can both fan the flames and blow sparks to new areas causing the fires to spread. Officials say the power shutoff could end Monday or Tuesday. In the western United States, millions of acres have burned in wildfires this year. Dozens of lives have been lost and thousands of homes have been destroyed.
An early winter storm is descending on some parts of the region. It could bring record cold temperatures with it and as much of a foot of snow to the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. So that could help firefighters.