Mountain communities ready for windy conditions in Fresno County

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Preparations were underway in Shaver Lake on Tuesday as gusty winds swept through Fresno County.

A wind advisory beginning late Tuesday evening will go until 7 am Wednesday as gusts are expected to reach 60 miles per hour above 8,000 feet.

The California Highway Patrol monitors the wind conditions hourly alongside Caltrans and offers these best practices when driving through wind gusts.

Large vehicles especially need to be mindful of windy conditions.

"The higher profile vehicles are always the ones that face the greatest danger of those high winds, so definitely reduce that speed," said California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Salas.

"The faster you're going, obviously, it's going to be harder to stop, and the displacement of those vehicles being pushed from lane to lane sometimes is a factor."

Southern California Edison is also monitoring wind speeds and gusts to try to avoid the most significant danger: downed lines.

"The biggest hazard with winds is their potential to cause downed power lines or cause loose articles or debris to go flying in the air. What we want to avoid is loose articles to come in contact with power lines because the danger with that is with a downed line they can still be energized," explained Gabriela Ornelas with Southern California Edison.

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