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Description
Meteorology
Santa Anas are a type of drainage wind, an offshore wind that results from the buildup of air pressure in the high-altitude Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. When upper level winds are favorable, this high altitude air mass spills out of the Great Basin and is propelled gravitationally towards the southern California coastline, generally as a northeasterly wind.
It is often said that the air is heated and dried as it passes through the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, but according to meteorologists this is a popular misconception. The Santa Ana winds usually form during autumn and early spring when the surface air in the elevated regions of the Great Basin and Mojave Desert (the "high desert") becomes cool or even cold, although they may form at virtually any time of year. The air heats up due to adiabatic heating during its descent. While the air has already been dried by orographic lift before reaching the Great Basin as well as by subsidence from the upper atmosphere, the relative humidity of the air is further decreased as it descends from the high desert toward the coast, often falling below 10 percent.
The air from the high desert is initially relatively dense owing to its coolness and aridity, and thus tends to channel down the valleys and canyons in gusts which can attain hurricane force at times. As it descends, the air not only becomes drier, but also warms adiabatically by compression. The southern California coastal region gets some of its hottest weather of the year during autumn while Santa Ana winds are blowing. During Santa Ana conditions it is typically hotter along the coast than in the deserts.
The combination of wind, heat, and dryness accompanying the Santa Ana winds turns the chaparral into explosive fuel feeding the infamous wildfires for which the region is known. Wildfires fanned by Santa Ana winds burned 721,791 acres (2,921 km²) in two weeks during October 2003.[1] These same winds have contributed to the fires that have burned some 426,000 acres as of late October 2007.[2]
Although the winds often have a destructive nature, they have some positive benefits as well. They cause cold water to rise from below the surface layer of the ocean, bringing with it many nutrients that ultimately benefit local fisheries. As the winds blow over the ocean, sea surface temperatures drop about 4°C (7°F), indicating the upwelling. Chlorophyll concentrations in the surface water go from negligible, in the absence of winds, to very active at more than 1.5 milligrams per cubic meter in the presence of the winds.
Santa Ana fog
A Santa Ana fog is derivative phenomenon in which a ground fog settles in Southern California during the end of a Santa Ana wind episode. When Santa Ana conditions prevail, with winds in the lower two to three kilometers (1.25-1.8 m) of the atmosphere from the north through east, the lower atmosphere continues to be dry. But as soon as the Santa Ana winds cease, the cool and moist marine layer forms rapidly. The air in the marine layer becomes very moist and fog occurs.[3][4]
A related phenomenon occurs when the Santa Ana condition is present but weak, allowing hot dry air to accumulate in the inland valleys that may not push all the way to sea level. Under these conditions auto commuters can drive from the San Fernando Valley where conditions are sunny and warm, over the low Santa Monica Mountains, to plunge into the cool cloudy air, low clouds, and fog characteristic of the marine air mass. This and the "Santa Ana fog" above constitute examples of an air inversion.
Cold Santa Ana's
While characteristically hot and dry, the Santa Anas can also blow cold and dry, and in fact can bring some of Southern California's coldest weather. High cloudiness, most commonly cirrus and altostratus, but also lenticular clouds may be observed, and on rare occasions these usually dry southwest-flowing winds can bring rain.
Popular experience
In the Los Angeles Basin, the winds are often credited with the extremely high visibility experienced in the area during the winter, in contrast to the hazy, smoggy summers.
The adverse pulmonary health impacts have been understood by local doctors for decades; the winds pick up and transmit grit, dust, pollens, mold spores and other irritants and allergens for considerable distances.
Residents regularly notice a build-up of dust in their homes and grit on their properties during these periods, which are frequent during the winter.
Similar winds
To the north, in the Santa Barbara area, the Santa Ana winds are weaker and are usually held at bay by topography: the local mountains offer no prominent outlets, in the form of passes or river valleys, from the elevated inland source areas. However, a variant of the Santa Ana wind, known locally as Sundowner winds, often invade the area. These are downslope winds which occur when a high pressure area lies due north of Santa Barbara, and occur most frequently in the late spring to early summer, and are strongest at sunset, or "sundown," hence their name. Since high pressure areas usually migrate east, changing the pressure gradient in southern California to the northeast, it is common for "sundowner" wind events to precede Santa Ana events by a day or two.[5]
Winds blowing off the elevated glaciated plateaus of Greenland and Antarctica experience the most extreme form of katabatic wind, of which the Santa Ana is a type, for the most part. The winds start at a high elevation and flow outward and downslope, attaining hurricane gusts in valleys, along the shore, and even out to sea. Like the Santa Ana, these winds also heat up by compression and lose humidity, but since they start out so extraordinarily cold and dry and blow over snow and ice all the way to the sea, the perceived difference is negligible.
Historical impact
The winds are also associated with some of the area's largest and deadliest wildfires, including the state's largest fire on record, the Cedar Fire, as well as the Laguna Fire, Old Fire, Esperanza Fire, Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 and the Witch Fire.
In October 2007 the winds fueled major wild fires and house burnings in Escondido, Malibu, San Marcos, Carlsbad, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, and in the major cities of San Bernardino, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Etymology
Santa Ana winds may get their name from the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County, the Santa Ana River or Santa Ana Canyon, along which the winds are particularly strong. There are also claims that the original form is Santana winds, from the Spanish vientos de Satán ("winds of Satan", Sanatanas being a rarer form of Satanás), and that this, in turn, is a translation of a native name in some unspecified language.citation needed
According to the Los Angeles Almanac: "The original spelling of the name of the winds is unclear, not to mention the origin. The name Santana Winds is said to be traced to Spanish California, when the winds were called devil winds due to their heat. The reference book Los Angeles A to Z (by Leonard & Dale Pitt), credits the Santa Ana Canyon in Orange County as the origin of the name Santa Ana Winds, thereby arguing for the term Santa Anas. This might be supported by early accounts which attributed the Santa Ana Riverbed running through the canyon as the source of the winds. Another account placed the origin of Santa Ana winds with an Associated Press correspondent stationed in Santa Ana who mistakenly began using Santa Ana winds instead of Santana winds in a 1901 dispatch."
Santa Ana winds in popular culture
| “ | Those hot dry winds that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. | ” |
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—Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind" |
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Television
- The above Chandler passage is read by Chris Stevens (John Corbett) at the beginning of the episode "Ill Wind" of the TV series Northern Exposure.
- This passage is also quoted by Ed Asner in his role as Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show as an example of how to write prose.
- Kitty's fear of the winds were featured in the "Date Night" episode of the ABC series Brothers & Sisters.
- Several references made in the hit TV show Beverly Hills, 90210.
- Reference made on Showtime's Weeds in the end of season three, when Santa Anas fuel a fire in the hill surrounding the suburb of Agrestic.
- Reference made in the movie "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet
Songs
1970s
- The 1970 Tim Buckley song "Venice Beach" includes the lyrics "White heat of swaying day/ Dark slap of conga cries/ 'Come out and breathe as one'/ Salt sea and fiddles drone/ Out on the dancing stone/ While the Santanas blow/ Sing the music boats in the bay."
- The song "L.A. Woman" (1971) by The Doors references taking a look around "See which way the wind blows," and contains imagery in which the city's "hair is burnin' hills are filled with fire."
- Debby Boone's 1978 album Midstream includes the song "California", with the lyric, "...California, where the sun is warm, where the winds called Santa Ana make you feel like you belong..."
1980s
- The Beach Boys song "Santa Ana Winds" appears on their 1980 album Keepin' the Summer Alive.
- The song "Babylon Sisters" by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen in the Steely Dan's album "Gaucho" (1980) has the refrain "Here come those Santa Ana winds again."
- The Santa Ana Winds are referred to in the 1983 song "I Love L.A." by Randy Newman: "And the Santa Ana Winds blowing hot from the north..."
- On Survivor's 1983 album Caught in the Game, there is included an atmospheric song named "Santa Ana Winds" that refers to a disastrous woman.
- Steve Goodman's Santa Ana Winds, the last album released before his death in 1984, contains the song of the same name. "Chicago Shorty" wrote this analogy of unrequited love from the view of a man from a city where wind is understood.
- The a capella group The Bobs' song "Santa Ana Woman" from their 1988 album Songs for Tomorrow Morning has the line "The Santa Ana winds had come back / And the whole city of LA was acting like it had PMS."
- The band Animal Logic recorded a song "Winds Of Santa Ana" appearing in the band's self-titled 1989 album.
1990s
- The song "Summer Rain" (1990) by Belinda Carlisle has the lyrics "I remember the rain on our skin. And his kisses hotter than the Santa Ana winds."
- Rancid makes reference to the winds in the song "Brad Logan" on the Chef Aid: The South Park Album (1998). "California sun has sunk/ behind the Anaheim hills; here comes the night/ I was high on junk/ and the warm winds of Santa Ana feel alright."
2000s
- The song "Mansfield" from Elton John's 2001 album Songs from the West Coast mentions a "California moon" and contains the lyrics "The Santa Ana winds blew warm into your room".
- Bad Religion mentions the winds a few times, using their nickname "murder winds" and the line "The fans of Santa Ana are withering" in the song "Los Angeles Is Burning" from the 2004 album The Empire Strikes First. "When the hills of Los Angeles are burning/ Palm trees are candles in the murder winds/ So many lives are on the breeze/ Even the stars are ill at ease/ And Los Angeles is burning."
- The song "Catch My Disease" (2005) by Ben Lee has the lyrics "She told me about the winds from Santa Ana/ And that's the way I like it."
- Danish band Mew's song "The Zookeeper's Boy" from their 2005 album And the Glass Handed Kites refers to the winds in the lyric "Santa Ana winds bring seasickness."
- Jason Mraz's unreleased "Silent Love Song" refers to the Santa Ana winds.
Movies
- In the 1971 movie The Return of Count Yorga, set in California, the characters discuss the recent wind in the area and ask the Count if he has heard of winds of Santa Ana to which he replies; "But of course. The Winds of Santa Ana are world famous."
- In the 1978 film Big Wednesday, the Santa Ana winds are mentioned in the opening sequence.
- In the 1983 film Breathless, the Santa Ana Winds are described by Jesse Lujack (Richard Gere) to Monica Poiccard (Valérie Kaprisky).
- In the 1984 film Top Secret! the tropical island paradise is said to be ravaged by the Santa Ana winds.
- In the 1994 film Mixed Nuts, the Santa Ana winds are mentioned briefly.
- In the 1995 film My Family, the Santa Ana Winds are mentioned in the sequence when Chucho (Esai Morales), a gang member, is shot dead by the LAPD.
- In the 2003 film Bells of Innocence, the redskin says that this wind will not allow the God Books arrive in Mexico.
- In the 2006 film The Holiday, the Santa Ana winds are constantly shown, and Jack Black's character 'Miles' mentions that when they blow, "all bets are off" and "anything can happen".
Fiction
- The Santa Ana winds are important to the plot of the book White Oleander by Janet Fitch.
- The Santa Ana winds are important aspect in the text Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.
Miscellaneous
- The Santa Ana winds are the subject of a 1965 essay by Joan Didion entitled "Los Angeles Notebook," which appears in her Slouching Towards Bethlehem collection of essays.
- There is also a band named The Santa Ana Winds Youth Band.
See also
References
- ^ *http://www.geotimes.org/oct03/WebExtra103103.html
- ^ *http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_re_us/california_wildfires
- ^ Leipper, D. F., Fog development at San Diego, California, J. Mar. Research, 7, 337-346, 1948.
- ^ Leipper, D. F., Fog on the United States West Coast: a review. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 75, 229-240.
- ^ Ryan, G., and L. E. Burch, 1992: An analysis of sundowner winds: A California downslope wind event. Preprints, Sixth Conf. on Mountain Meteorology, Portland, OR, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 64-67.
- OWSweather, Southern California, Research department.: Santa Ana Wind Forecasts
- University of California, Los Angeles, Meteorology Dept.: Santa Ana Winds
- What are the Santana or Santa Ana Winds?
- "NASA Satellite Finds Something Fishy About Santa Ana Winds", Jet Propulsion Laboratory (March 11, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-05-25.
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