Chico, Calif. -- We're starting off the weekend with a few hazardous weather conditions to keep in mind.
A Red Flag Warning goes into effect at 11 p.m. tonight through 11 a.m. Monday morning.
We're seeing high pressure building, so temperatures are up and humidity is back down, averaging in the teens and recovering only as much a 30-40%.
Strong winds out of the North will last through the weekend at 10-15 mph with gusts up to 45 mph., picking up Sunday.
And although it did rain this week, areas that didn't get a lot of rainfall will dry out very quickly.
All of this means of course very dangerous conditions when it comes to wildfires - you know the drill: anything that catches fire this weekend will spread quickly and rapidly.
This applies to the southern part of our area including Butte, Southern parts of Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yuba counties.
We're also looking at a Wind Advisory beginning tonight at midnight and lasting until 6 p.m. Sunday - these go into effect when we're expecting winds at 40 mph or higher.
We'll see North winds at 15-25 miles an hour gusting up to 50 mph, especially in the western areas of the valley and along the coastal range.
So along with fire danger, be aware of possible downed tress and power lines, and even dangerous driving conditions if you have a lightweight or taller car or truck.
So, here's what's behind it all:
We have an area of low pressure over the Great Basin pulling some moisture over the Sierra Crest may mean more rain this evening in some areas.
Behind the trough, winds are picking up.
By Monday we'll still see a northerly flow, but it'll be a lot calmer.
Into early Tuesday morning, we'll see those winds shift from the south, and temperatures will be the warmest, in the mid 80s for the start if the work-week in the valley.
Mountain areas will be slightly below normal temperature-wise.
That trough of low pressure dominates the forecast throughout next week, keeping our high temps just below normal, with overnight lows in the mountain as low as the 30s, and valleys dropping to the 50s.
This system is moving through a little to the South and then East, so if we see any rain it would likely be just in the Northern Sierra Wednesday night into Thursday
Expect Northerly winds to pick up Thursday night into Friday as the low moves East, high pressure builds once again and temperatures warm back up.