With hot, dry Santa Ana winds gusting up to 102 mph overnight, the National Weather Service extended high wind and red flag warnings across Southern California today and some Christmas celebrations were marred by power outages.

The high wind warning was extended for Ventura and portions of the Los Angeles County coast from Hollywood north to Leo Carrillo until 6 p.m. today, according to Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Warnings were also extended in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties until 7 p.m. tonight.

Red flag warnings, which signify heightened risk of wildfires, were extended in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura Counties until 8 p.m. tonight, according to National Weather Service spokesmen.

Seto said the winds have been unusually prolonged.

"Normal Santa Anas last a day and a half. These have been coming in through the weekend, after we had all that good rain, and that's what's increasing the fire danger," he said.

Winds took their toll on some festivities in Southern California, with downed power lines causing extended blackouts to more than 10,000 households and businesses in the western San Fernando Valley and the Inland Empire, officials said.

Parts of North Hills and Porter Ranch lost power around 2 a.m. today and outages affecting about 2,400 customers continued at least through the rest of the morning, according to Kim Hughes, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. She said 33 crews were working on repairs.

"It's mostly downed lines or branches that take lines down," she said.

The affected area traditionally takes the brunt of winds blowing forcefully through the Santa Susana Pass, she noted.

Southern California Edison, which covers most of the rest of the region, reported about 9,000 customers were without power, mainly in Fontana, San Bernardino and Redlands, according to company spokesman Paul Kein. More than 100,000 homes and businesses in areas from San Diego to Santa Barbara experienced brief blackouts during the early morning hours, but most of those lasted less than 30 seconds, he said.

While Edison crews were busy restoring service, Klein said he expected some new interruptions "as long as the wind keeps blowing."

Winds gusted up to 102 mph last night atop Whitaker Peak, and 78 mph in Malibu Hills, prompting power outages across Los Angeles County.

California Highway Patrol issued a wind warning for the northern end of Los Angeles County from California 118 north to Ventura County, particularly the Golden State Freeway (I-5) and California 14, according to Officer Jose Nuñez. No major wind-related crashes had been reported this morning, he said.

Winds were blowing only about 5 mph at Los Angeles International Airport this morning and about 40 mph at John Wayne Airport today -- not enough to impede travel, said Dan Wasowski, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Diego.

The winds are expected to die down this afternoon, slowing to 15 to 30 mph in the valleys by evening; 20 to 30 mph in the mountains with gusts of 45 mph, Seto said.