A late-season Pacific storm that brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated California was blamed for at least two deaths.
At 97 degrees, Tuesday was the hottest day of the year in Santa Rosa, breaking the 1974 record high for May 26.
The wind known as the Diablo is picking up again, the air is dry, there is no rain in sight and the killer wildfires that have scorched the wine country of Northern California remain almost completely uncontained. Officials warned Wednesday that some of the big fires could merge. Amid these grim bulletins, the huge utility company PG&E acknowledged that the extreme winds late Sunday and early Monday had knocked trees into power lines in conditions conducive to wildfires.
According to the National Weather Service, 36.5 million residents, 98% of Californians, are under a heat advisory Friday as a high-pressure system broils the state from the Oregon to Mexico borders.
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