First Santa Anas of the year arrive, peaking Friday Play

The first Santa Ana winds of the year have blown in strong Thursday, and will be very strong Friday.

As of midnight Wednesday, Southern California Edison said it was likely they would turn off power at around 7 a.m. on part of the Cuthbert Circuit — the Point Dume area. The rest of the city is on notice that power could be cut off at any time, but as of 8:45 a.m. Thursday, no power outages have been reported by Edison, either accidental or intentional.

Wind gust forecasts for Thursday are up to 50 mph in the hills above Malibu, with even stronger winds Friday. On the beaches Thursday, peak winds may hit 20 to 30 mph, but Santa Anas sometimes don't behave as predicted. At 8:45 a.m., wind gusts at Trancas Canyon Park were blowing at 15 mph over the mountains, but at the beach it was completely calm.

Peak winds will arrive in the typical Santa Ana pattern: ramping up Friday morning a few hours before dawn, peaking at mid-morning, and tapering off slightly in the afternoon and evening. Friday will see the strongest winds, with speeds about 10 mph faster than Thursday.

L.A. County firefighter Keith Navarre told ABC 7 that extra crews have already been sent to the Santa Monica Mountains. "We have two strike teams that we pre-positioned, camp crews, heavy equipment, helicopters, firefighting aircraft. The purpose of doing that is if the fire breaks out we can stop it when it's small."

The first Santa Ana of the year is now forecast to be stronger than originally predicted, blasting in with a 9 millibar pressure differential and coming in from the east, not the north. Air in the San Bernardino area will be about 9 millibars heavier than the air out over Santa Monica Bay.

The Santa Anas will last into Saturday, strongest Friday morning. Some wind gusts at the highest mountains may reach up to 70 mph, with canyons in Malibu seeing peak gusts around 55 mph in some places. Highs between 85 and 95 are common by Friday, warmest near the coast.