winds

Wave data showed swells of more than 20 feet in the waters off of Northern California on Tuesday as winds exceeded 40 knots.

By early Wednesday, winds in the region had caused widespread power outages and some tree damage, and were expected to bring blizzard conditions throughout the Cascades, the agency said.

But the ferocious winds that followed the blaze ripped through the area and tore more than half of the remaining avocados off the trees, scattering them across his 2-acre farm.

The men were more than 25 miles from the blaze but a combination of high winds and smoke was enough to foul the air.

"We are planning to incorporate more observational data sources and improve the model's capability to handle the time evolution of winds," said Hu.