PG&E is implementing proactive power shutoffs in three North Bay counties and six others around Northern California on Wednesday night and into Thursday because of hot and windy weather that poses a risk of sparking wildfires.

The power outages, which PG&E calls Public Safety Power Shutoffs, will affect customers in Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties as well as Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Sutter, Tehama and Yolo counties outside of the Bay Area.

According to an outage map on the utility’s website, some of the shutoffs were estimated to start by 9 p.m. in northern Sonoma County and parts of Solano County near Vacaville, while others in southern Sonoma and Napa counties were set to start a couple of hours later.

Power is not estimated to be restored in the affected areas of the three Bay Area counties until 4 p.m. Thursday. People can check PG&E’s outage map or enter their address on the utility’s website to see whether they will be affected by the shutoffs.

According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts of up to 40 mph and above 60 mph on ridge tops are expected to blow through the North Bay late Wednesday night through Thursday morning. The weather service has issued a Red Flag Warning in effect through 9 a.m. Thursday in the North Bay interior mountains and East Bay hills.

Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.