The ferocious wildfires that have turned the Los Angeles area into a raging inferno are being fanned by “hurricane-force” Santa Ana winds that have already prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and are rapidly destroying homes.
Santa Ana winds, common in Southern California during the cold season, are behind some of the Golden State's most vicious fires.
They are notorious for turning a small spark into a destructive, uncontrollable flame that spreads at breakneck speed.
Santa Ana winds are currently wreaking havoc, with gusts reaching staggering speeds of 160 miles per hour, as firefighters continue to battle ongoing wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas. Here's what you need to know about:
What is Santa Ana style?
The Santa Ana is a dry, warm northeasterly wind that blows from the interior of Southern California toward the coast.
This wind, also known as the “Devil's Wind,” is thought to be named after the Santa Ana Valley in Orange County.
How do Santa Ana winds occur?
These winds are generated by high pressure above the Great Basin, a desert region spanning multiple states including California, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah.
As air passes through the mountains and valleys that separate the desert from the coastline, it becomes drier and warmer.
When Santa Ana winds blow, humidity levels often drop to single-digit percentages, resulting in significantly drier vegetation and greater fire susceptibility.
Extreme wind speeds can cause sparks from fallen power lines, for example, and cause rapidly spreading flames.
Which direction do the winds blow in Santa Ana?
Santa Ana winds travel clockwise, in the opposite direction to the normal flow that brings moist air over land from the Pacific Ocean.
So how are they affecting the Palisades fires?
Southern California was hit by unusually strong Santa Ana winds that roared down inland mountain slopes late Tuesday and early Wednesday, with gusts reaching 160 miles per hour, weather experts said.
“As the Santa Ana wind event continues, we received wind reports of 160 mph not far from Pasadena a few minutes ago,” Fox meteorologist Christopher Tate told the Post in a first-round statement Wednesday. spoke.
Local fire officials are calling the blizzard conditions a “worst-case scenario” for fighting wildfires.
“The number one thing a fire needs for propagation is a source of oxygen,” Tate said. “And because the wind carries a lot of smoke and burnt material away from the fire, there's a lot of oxygen available for the fire, making it very easy for the fire to spread.”
Dry conditions also exacerbated the spread of the fire, with relative humidity dropping below 20% across the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
When will the Santa Ana winds stop?
Winds are expected to ease slightly by Wednesday afternoon, with gusts dropping to 30 to 60 mph.
Mr Tate said the expected drop in wind speeds would at least be “slight enough for firefighting aircraft to be able to fly back in and attack the fires from the air.”
with post wire
