SANTA CRUZ >> For the second time in less than a month, weather officials are warning an extreme wind event this week will bring dangerous fire conditions to the Central Coast.

With forecasters predicting wind speeds that range from 20 mph to 50 mph at high elevation areas and relative humidity that could dip into the single digits, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning Monday that includes all of Santa Cruz County. The call to keep on high-alert for potentially devastating wildfire weather will officially begin 11 a.m. Tuesday — Election Day — in the county and all across the nation — and will extend through 7 a.m. Thursday.

“It’s a combination of the off shore winds and the dry conditions,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the weather service. “The primary concern is going to be Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.”

The red flag warning means critical fire weather conditions — where even a small spark can lead to a disastrous wildfire — are likely imminent, particularly at areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains where the grasses are still very dry and the highest speed wind gusts are expected to sweep through.

Gass cautioned the public against engaging in any activities that could result in an ignition and emphasized the dangers of unsecured metal towing chains dragging from the back of moving vehicles that could scatter sheets of hot embers into the dry brush along local roadways.

“That is one of the top contributors to fire starts,” said Gass.

Utility provider Pacific Gas & Electric Co., for its part, announced it was amping up fire protection efforts by planning a series of power safety shutoffs that could impact 20,000 customers in four tribal areas and 17 counties, including Santa Cruz. The first set of shutoffs will happen at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the earliest if weather conditions don’t improve.

Jason Hoppin, a Santa Cruz County spokesperson, told the Sentinel Monday that no polling locations were included within the scope of the safety shutoffs and that the election will run without a hitch.

“We recognize, Tuesday Nov. 5th is election day, and we will be doing everything we can to ensure a smooth election process,” Vice President of PG&E’s South Bay and Central Coast Region Teresa Alvarado said in a release. “We started working with state and local election officials over a month (ago) to ensure reliability at polling locations and tabulation centers.”

According to PG&E’s outage map, available at pge.com/pspsupdates, county areas within the shutoff scope include the top region of Soquel Demonstration State Forest near Summit Road and sections next to The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park along Eureka Canyon Road. PG&E has notified the customers that could be impacted, according to the release.

The red flag warning comes just a few days after the county received its first spat of wet weather in weeks, though experts say it won’t be enough to provide much of a buffer against dangerous fire conditions.

A smaller wind event swept through the county Sunday and early Monday, Gass said, likely erasing most of the moisture benefits that had been gained over the weekend.

The wet-weather system moved through the Central Coast area late Friday and early Saturday and brought a light dusting of rainfall to the parched landscape with Sentinel weather observers reporting 0.55 inches of rain in Ben Lomond and 0.45 inches in Soquel.

“We got some fairly decent rain last week,” said Hoppin. “I think the concern though is that the wind does dry out that water and makes the fields vulnerable again.”

This vulnerability is nothing new as county officials, fire crews and PG&E mobilized during a similarly precarious low humidity wind event only a few weeks ago.

High winds of more tan 50 mph in mountainous regions had weather experts on edge for several days in mid October as fire officials beefed up their staffing in anticipation of an emergency and PG&E implemented a series of safety shutoffs in densely wooded county regions.

But even with all the preparations underway, Hoppin said a fairly large number of residents experienced outages during the last wind storm due to downed power lines and falling branches and this coming event brings with it a possible rerun.

“I would expect to see some more outages beginning later (Tuesday) and into Wednesday that aren’t related to the public safety power shutoff,” he said.