The National Weather Service has issued a high-wind warning for portions of Southern California on Sunday, saying gusts up to 65 mph could uproot trees and make travel difficult for high-profile vehicles through some passes.

The warning is in effect through 3 p.m., with warm Santa Anas hitting the region's mountains, inland valley and canyon areas hardest.

[Updated at 10:13 a.m.: Gusty winds have already been recorded Sunday morning throughout L.A. County, with the Chilao campground in the San Gabriel Mountains seeing a gust of 66 mph. Malibu Hills recorded a gust of 52 mph; Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, 40 mph; Newhall Pass, 38 mph; and Van Nuys, 35 mph.]

The NWS also warned of potentially dangerous rip current conditions along the Orange and San Diego county coasts. [Updated at 10:13 a.m.: Dangerous conditions are also expected along the coasts of L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.]

Said Jamie Meier, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Oxnard: "We'll probably see some downed trees."

"Luckily, we still have pretty, green hillsides, so we're not as concerned about the fire danger. But it's still something people need to be aware of," Meier said.

The arrival of the Santa Anas will coincide with warmer-than-average temperatures across the Southland. Highs are expected to climb into the 70s in the L.A. region for the next five days and could creep into the 80s by Wednesday and Thursday, Meier said.

The Santa Ana winds are forming because of strong high pressure that is sinking to the surface in the Great Basin in the Nevada area. That high pressure will cause air to funnel toward Southern California. As the winds blow through the canyons ringing Los Angeles, they gain speed and temperatures rise as the air is compressed.

Meanwhile, much of the Northeast and Midwest are trapped in sub-freezing temperatures as frigid air from Canada sweeps down south. The lowest U.S. temperature recorded Saturday morning was 35 degrees below zero in Waskish, Minn., near the Canadian border.

[Updated at 10:13 a.m.: The highest national temperature on Saturday was in Palm Springs and Yuma, Ariz., which hit 78 degrees. The lowest temperature on Sunday morning was in International Falls, Minn., a town on the Canadian border that refers to itself as the "icebox of the nation." The low there was 37 degrees below zero.] 

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Dangerous rip currents forecast for Orange and San Diego counties

-- Rong-Gong Lin II

A man wielding a pellet gun was shot Saturday afternoon by Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies after he shot four people, including two sheriff's deputies, authorities said.

All four victims of the pellet gun shooting were expected to recover. The pellet gun shooter was taken to a local hospital, but authorities did not provide information about his condition. Sheriff's spokesman Drew Sugars said authorities could not immediately identify him.

Deputies responded just before 1 p.m. to a call about an aggressive panhandler at a shopping center in Goleta. When they got there, they found the suspect in a vacant lot on the east side of Storke Road holding a weapon, Sugars said. 

A National Weather Service advisory warns that "damaging winds are likely" across portions of Southern California through Wednesday evening and into Thursday morning.

Strong winds are already sweeping through mountain and interior valleys in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, according to the advisory.

Gusts between 40 and 50 mph will be common, the advisory said, and in some mountain passes, winds could reach up to 75 mph.

The winds are expected to shift later Wednesday afternoon, with the strongest gusts along the Interstate 5 corridor and the valleys of Los Angeles County, according to the advisory.

The combination of very strong winds and blowing snow is expected to cause treacherous driving conditions near the Grapevine, officials said.

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-- Carlos Lozano

The driving rain and buffeting winds wreaked havoc Wednesday at Southern California harbors, ripping boats from their moorings, swamping vessels and causing a small oil spill in the Dominguez Channel, officials said.

In Wilmington, rain caused oil collection areas to overflow after a small pipeline ruptured, sending up to about 50 gallons into Dominguez Channel, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

"It just dissipated out very quickly," said Lt. Sean Arumae, adding that the spill was quickly contained. The incident is under investigation by federal authorities.

Heavy winds tore two commercial barges from their moorings in San Pedro Bay, causing one to nearly float into a railroad bridge before it was towed by rescue craft. One of the barges carried equipment, and the other was empty, officials said.

Rains swamped motor vessels in the Cabrillo Marina and in Long Beach, the Coast Guard said.

In Santa Barbara, meanwhile, crews removed 70 gallons of diesel fuel from a 50-foot sailboat that had washed onto the shore at East Beach, officials said. The boat was still on the shore Wednesday afternoon as the Coast Guard tried to locate the owner.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Sailboat washing up at Santa Barbara. Credit: U.S. Coast Guard, Marine Safety Detachment

To nobody's evident surprise, actor Randy Quaid and his wife Evi did not show up in a Santa Barbara court for a scheduled hearing Tuesday morning.

The Quaids, who have missed a string of hearings on felony vandalism and other charges, are accused of squatting in and trashing a Montecito home they used to own. They have fled to Canada to escape a malicious group they have called "Hollywood star-whackers" and an immigration hearing for Randy has been set for Nov. 23.

In Santa Barbara, Superior Court Judge Donna Geck has issued arrest warrants for the couple. Anthony Davis, a prosecutor on the case, said Tuesday that his office has not yet decided whether to seek the Quaids' extradition.

The Quaids have forefeited a total of $1 million in bail.

The National Weather Service is predicting high winds and frost in portions of Southern California on Monday evening, making for potentially treacherous driving conditions and the possibility of property damage.

The weather service issued a high wind warning for mountain areas in Los Angeles County, excluding the Santa Monica range. The warning remains in effect until about 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Winds of 35 to 50 mph are expected in much of Southern California, with gusts of up to 60 mph predicted through the Interstate 5 corridor in the early evening. The winds are expected to increase in the evening before decreasing overnight.

The Antelope Valley and the interior valleys of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties will probably see frost late Monday night and early Tuesday.

-- Abby Sewell

There’s got to be a movie — or at least a reality show — in the ongoing saga of Randy and Evi Quaid.

The latest episode occurred Tuesday morning, when a Santa Barbara judge issued a warrant for Evi’s arrest –- an action that will cost the couple her $500,000 bail.

Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Donna Geck threatened to do the same for Randy if he doesn’t show up for a Nov. 16 hearing on vandalism charges faced by the couple for allegedly squatting in and trashing the Montecito mansion that once was their home.

The Quaids were to have appeared in Santa Barbara Tuesday morning for arraignment on vandalism and related charges. But they missed a hearing in the case for the third time in a row. The eccentric Hollywood couple had instead fled to Canada.

In remarks outside a Vancouver courtroom and an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” they said they are being stalked by “star whackers” –- a cabal that destroys celebrities through fraud, theft and even murder.

Officials at UC Santa Barbara were trying to discover Monday why a two-ton chunk of ceiling crashed into a lobby at the university's Bren School of Environmental Science and Management over the weekend.

No one  was hurt when the 20 foot x 25 foot section, laced with electrical wiring, fell outside an exterior elevator Saturday afternoon.

George Foulsham, a university spokesman, said officials were examining several other sections of suspended ceiling in the eight-year-old building for possible flaws.

Bren Hall was the first building to receive two LEED Platinum certifications -– a status awarded for sustainability by the U.S. Green Building Council. The building is to reopen Wednesday.

-- Steve Chawkins in Ventura

After conferring with a shark expert, Santa Barbara County coroner's officials today identified the shark that killed 19-year-old college student Lucas Ransom as a great white.

Ralph Collier, president of the Shark Research Committee, determined that the UC Santa Barbara junior was killed by a great white shark measuring 17 to 18 feet long and weighing 4,000 pounds. Ransom was attacked as he surfed with a friend Friday on a beach near Lompoc.

Collier's finding is based on witness accounts, Ransom's wound and a gaping, foot-wide bite mark left in his bodyboard, coroner's officials said. Authorities also said that they had recovered fragments of a shark's tooth.

Collier is a well-known shark expert and author of "Shark Attacks of the 20th Century." He said there have been only 12 authenticated fatal shark attacks along the West Coast since the 1950s.

Ransom's family is planning a memorial and paddle-out to the ocean Thursday to honor their son.

-- Catherine Saillant

Lucas Ransom, a 19-year-old UC Santa Barbara student killed in a shark attack, will be eulogized Thursday at a funeral service followed by a paddle-out in the ocean, family members said Monday.

A 10 a.m. memorial will be held at Evans-Brown Mortuary, 27010 Encanto Drive in Sun City, just south of the family's home in Romoland in Riverside County.

At 4:30 p.m. Thursday, friends and family will gather on the south side of Oceanside Pier in Oceanside before paddling out on surfboards into the Pacific Ocean, where they will scatter flowers to honor Ransom, said his brother, Travis Ransom.

The public is welcome at both events, he said.

"At first, we were going to keep the paddle-out private,'' he said. "But we're all brothers out there in the ocean. We all share the same joy when we're out there."