subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n\nThe stronger the difference between the high and low areas, the faster the winds will be\u2014and the high-pressure system over Nevada right now is relatively strong, Wofford says. As the winds move into southern California, they are funneled through its many narrow mountain canyons; this causes the winds to speed up. \u201cIt\u2019s like squeezing a balloon and just having the air squirt out,\u201d Wofford says. (The Santa Ana winds actually take their name from Santa Ana Canyon, which lies between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Chino Hills.) In some parts of the mountains around Los Angeles, gusts above 70 miles per hour have been reported. A 93-mile-per-hour gust was recorded at Magic Mountain Truck Trail. The current wind event is similar to one in early November that fanned the flames of the Mountain Fire, which burned several hundred structures in Ventura County.<\/p>\n
Santa Ana wind events are common at this time of year, but yesterday\u2019s and today\u2019s windspeeds are unusually strong. And because they are, by nature, hot and dry, these winds also particularly help fuel fires. As the winds move downslope over the deserts, the air compresses and warms\u2014and as it does so, it also dries out. Those dry winds can further desiccate already-parched vegetation, further priming it to ignite from the slightest spark.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re marginally a desert even in normal years,\u201d Wofford says. Vegetation in the area of the Franklin Fire was already dry after months of almost no rain. Cold-season rains have usually arrived after the region\u2019s hot, dry summers, reducing fire risk. But this year\u2019s rains have not yet started in this area.<\/p>\n
Forecasters had issued a \u201cparticularly dangerous situation\u201d red flag warning for the area for Monday night through Tuesday afternoon because of the winds and dry conditions. Relative humidity levels were reaching as low as 3 percent, Wofford says. \u201cEverything is very crispy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winds are expected to die down later on Tuesday and into Wednesday, but conditions are still ripe for further blazes\u2014and the further spread of the Franklin Fire. Evacuation orders have been issued for parts of the coast, and part of the Pacific Coast Highway is closed, as are Malibu schools. The fire is currently 0 percent contained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"December 10, 2024 3 min read How the Santa Ana Winds Are Stoking the Malibu Fire Dry weather and an extreme Santa Ana wind event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":294069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/static.scientificamerican.com\/dam\/m\/2f5b7cf336f1d26b\/original\/firefighter_pulls_water_hose_through_fire.jpg?m=1733854067.764&w=600\")