Here's a live map of the California wildfires. (courtesy: Google)KFMB-TV in San Diego has great coverage on their website including the addresses and maps of houses burned. I would encourage you to look at their site to get an idea of the scope of these fires.
The fires are caused by a Santa Ana Wind. That occurs when high pressure strengthens up in Nevada. In response to the rising pressure, winds increase around the high, blowing from the northeast to southwest over Southern California.
Notice how the L.A. area is surrounded by mountains (to the north and east). As the wind rises to higher elevations the air dries out. Then the dry air falls into the L.A. metro and speeds up fanning fires. There are dozens of fires burning out of control tonight, many in urban areas. One of the problems with these events is the fact that this is one of the fastest growing places on earth. More rural hillsides are dotted with million dollar homes. So, it appears that this news story will be repeated in the years to come. The good news? Santa Ana winds will go away by Wednesday.
Did you know? Winds that downslope from the Rockies into the Midwest are called "Chinook Winds." This wind direction often brings strong warm-ups for us in the winter months. -ERIC
3 comments:
I lived in the LA basin for a couple of years & experienced some of those Santa Ana winds. They can be really strong, over 100 mph once when I was living there. That is strong enough to overturn airplanes sitting on the ground, blow semis off the road, etc.
About Chinook winds: I remember first reading about them in one of the "Little House" books years ago - maybe "By the Shores of Sliver Lake" which was set in South Dakota. As I remember, it was during that long winter with all the blizzards when the whole town almost starved. The Chinook winds offered the first sign of hope that maybe they would survive that brutal winter on the prairie.
I was just reading those books to my daughter and they did experience a Chinook wind in one of them.
Chinook winds are sometimes called "snow eaters" because in some places they can raise the temperature 30 degrees in a few hours.
Good stuff you guys! And you're exactly right, they're snow eaters! That's why Denver, CO oftentimes has a big snow followed by 50 degree temperatures just days later. -ERIC
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