Strong winds sweep through parts of California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Strong winds raked parts of California on Wednesday, making travel difficult on some highways and raising the prospect of downed trees and power outages.

A gust topped 70 mph (113 kph) in the hills north of San Francisco Bay and another gust hit 81 mph (130 kph) in northern Los Angeles County, the National Weather Service said.

The powerful winds were being caused by high pressure over the interior of the West creating flow toward the coast and offshore.

A fire erupted on the Big Sur coast but was held to about 2 acres (0.8 hectare), KSBW reported.

A rare winter wildfire that erupted in the same region during a blast of offshore winds on Jan. 21 was declared 100% contained Wednesday after burning 687 acres (278 hectares), Cal Fire said.