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Parts of southern California are bracing for another round of potentially damaging Santa Ana winds that could destroy trees and power lines and increase the risk of fire.
Locally gusting northerly winds will move northeast from Saturday evening through Sunday, peaking in the morning before dissipating in the afternoon, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the Oxnard National Weather Service.
“It will be a Santa Ana and it will be a pretty strong one,” Sweet said.
The strongest winds are expected in the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, which could see gusts of 70 mph, with gusts of 65 mph possible in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Santa Valley. Clarita, said Sweet. Gusts could reach 50 mph in the San Fernando and Ventura County valleys and along the coast, with gusts of 40 mph possible between the Hollywood Hills and Leo Carrillo Beach in Malibu, a he declared.
The winds are expected to push towards Avalon Harbor, causing wind waves of three to five feet, Sweet said.
Unlike land winds, which bring moisture as they blow from the ocean above the land, Santa Ana winds come from inland, gain speed, heat up and dry out. as they move from higher to lower elevation and weave through narrow canyons and passes.
“This is a typical Santa Ana wind event that results from a low pressure system bypassing east of us and causing a surface pressure difference between the high pressure over the Great Basin and the higher pressure. bass along the Los Angeles coast, ”Sweet said. .
Air from high pressure areas flows to low pressure areas, and the gradient, or difference, causes the strong winds.
The National Weather Service has issued strong wind warnings for the Ventura Mountains and LA County, including the Santa Monica Range and the Santa Clarita Valley, which are in effect from Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon. Many other areas are subject to wind advisories.
Conditions are fairly common this time of year, although this winter has seen more happening in Santa Ana than usual, Sweet said.
“We have often been stuck in a particular weather pattern this winter which has been favorable to the Santa Ana winds,” he said.
Unfortunately, it was not the same for the rain. February is typically the wettest month in the region, and in a normal year 10.7 inches would have fallen in downtown Los Angeles between October 1 and now, Sweet said. So far this rainy season, only 4.39 inches have fallen.
As for the middle of the week, there is a possibility of rain as early as Tuesday evening through Wednesday, but forecasters are treating it as a “very low confidence call” as models are divided over whether it will or won’t happen, Sweet said. Another system seems more likely to bring rain to the area the following week, but it’s too far to be sure, he said.
Even so, precipitation is unlikely to be significant enough to significantly reduce the deficit: Forecasters have said it would take a “mega-miracle” to bring Los Angeles back to a year of normal rain.
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