(CNN) A major California utility has temporarily turned off power for almost 60,000 customers because of fire threats.

Pacific Gas & Electric, based in San Francisco, announced the move because of elevated risks of fire weather -- a combination of strong winds, low humidity and dry conditions on the ground. The initiative is designed to prevent power lines from sparking fires.

Update: Public Safety Power Shutoff remains in effect for 17k customers in North Bay and 42k in Sierra Foothills. We continue to monitor the weather and will provide updates to our impacted customers in Napa, Lake, Sonoma, Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras counties. pic.twitter.com/Wqde9cqiQj — PG&E (@PGE4Me) October 15, 2018

The National Weather Service said a Red Flag Warning -- an alert that signals the potential of dire fire threat conditions -- continues through Monday morning for higher elevations of the North Bay and East Bay in northern California.

More than 22 million people are under Red Flag Warnings both in northern and southern California, CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said. An elevated risk of fire weather is forecast for northern areas and an extreme risk of fire weather has been posted for southern areas, including parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph are possible Monday. Humidity below 15% is forecast, and wind gusts up to 70 mph are possible in the higher elevations, canyons and passes, Brink said.

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