Today in San Diego
California Fires, Covid Positivity Rates, Middle East Tensions
We're following this breaking news. Good morning. Thanks for listening. It's going to be nice. We're here while the really big story is on. You're listening to the Today in San Diego podcast. Good morning. I'm Michelle Medina with NBC seven. Here's a look at some of the headlines. Dozens of fires are burning across the state this morning. We're learning more about the cause of a fire that has forced thousands living in northern San Diego County to evacuate. While fires now saying the Nixon fire, which is burning just outside of Temecula, was caused by a privately owned electrical panel. The fire, which broke out Monday, has destroyed more than 5,000 acres and four structures. At last check, it is just 30 percent contained. Meantime in northern California, the park fire is now the fourth largest in state history. The fire burning near Chico has destroyed nearly 400,000 acres and damaged more than 500 buildings. a week ago. Crews say the fire is just 25 percent contained. With rising tension in the Middle East, the Secretary of Defense has ordered signed orders boosting U.S. military presence in the region. This includes moving San Diego-based USS Abraham Lincoln to the area. It will replace the USS Roosevelt. While the change was already planned, concerns are growing that Iran may attack Israel after the assassination of a top Hamas leader. The U.S. is also setting more cruisers and destroyers to the region, which can shoot down ballistic missiles. With more people traveling during the summer and more people getting together, San Diego doctors say COVID is once again on the rise. According to county data, San Diego County's seven-day positivity rate last week was about 20 percent. The highest it's been in some time and the true number is likely higher. Since this doesn't include results from home testing, fortunately doctors say this is not like the height of the pandemic. Her diminity is playing a huge role. The fact that people have gotten vaccinated is playing a huge role in reducing the severity, even if people are getting infected and are symptomatic. We're just not seeing the complications we were seeing back then. San Diego doctors say COVID-19 is once again on the rise. According to county data, San Diego County's seven-day positivity rate last week was around 20 percent. The highest it's been in some time and the true number is likely higher since this does not include results from home testing. Fortunately, doctors say this is not like the height of the pandemic. The county recently issued a local health order requiring hospitals to return to reporting COVID and flu hospitalizations. Meteorologist Brooke Martell has a look at the forecast. Good Saturday morning. It is going to be a hot afternoon. And before we get to details on the temperatures, a few things to keep in mind. We will be under a heat advisory for your inland valleys and your mountain communities. Starting this morning, this is expected to last until Tuesday night. And the reason being, we have those temperatures from about the low to mid 90s over those areas. Meantime over the desert region, excessive heat warning also going into effect today that will last through Tuesday night. Those temperatures there are just downright hot, close to about 115 degrees. And if you're heading to the coast, we are looking at some cloudy skies throughout the morning that will gradually mix out heading into this afternoon temperature wise for the coastal communities right around the mid 70s should feel really nice, a little bit warmer for downtown San Diego, closer to the low 80s for your Saturday over your inland valley communities. We know about the 90s. Same thing for our mountain communities, but places like Ramona do have the potential to get up to about 101 degrees and then those triple digit temperatures settling in right around 113 115 degrees for your desert region. So the heat will be sticking around, we could be a bit breezy heading into the afternoon for today and tomorrow warmer temperatures through the start of this upcoming week. In terms of thunderstorm chances, we're really not seeing that in the forecast until about Tuesday into Wednesday for our mountains and deserts. I'll send it back over to you. Thanks for listening to our podcast today in San Diego. I'm Nichelle Medina with NBC seven. Thank you for listening to today in San Diego. For more from our team search NBC San Diego wherever you listen to podcasts and be sure to give us your feedback by leaving a rating and review. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]