Santa Ana Winds

The National Weather Service on Saturday issued red flag warnings for Los Angeles and Ventura counties as autumn's first Santa Ana winds increased the risk of wildfires in Southern California. The warnings will be in effect today through Tuesday because forecasts call for an extended period of dry weather and strong northeast winds, a weather service spokesman said. Red flag warnings are issued when wind speeds reach 25 mph or greater and the relative humidity is 15% or less. Meteorologists predict that the strongest winds will occur Monday and Tuesday mornings, when gusts up to 60 mph are possible in the mountains and foothills.

The Los Angeles County Arboretum, where Santa Ana winds wreaked havoc on the historic collection of plants, is slated to reopen Monday, a week ahead of schedule and in time for holiday visitors. The Arcadia botanic garden, one of the largest in the nation with more than 10,000 types of plants from around the world, has been closed for cleanup and rehabilitation since hurricane-force winds tore through the San Gabriel Valley on Nov. 30. It will reopen in time for the thousands of visitors who typically arrive during the week between Christmas and New Year's, when many people are in the area for the holidays and the Rose Parade.

Bracing for the arrival of a heat wave and the likelihood of Santa Ana winds, Southern California firefighters rushed this weekend to extinguish the Station fire and a smaller blaze east of Temecula. A high-pressure system building over the Great Basin area today will bring low humidity and temperatures in the high 90s to the Los Angeles area. While weather at the beaches will remain in the 80s, the mercury is expected to reach triple digits inland and in the San Fernando Valley.

Los Angeles County's most potent windstorm in recent years continued to dole out complications Saturday, depriving about 80,000 homes and businesses of power for a third day and sapping pre-holiday spirit in some foothill communities. Nearly 74,000 Southern California Edison customers remained without power Saturday in about a dozen San Gabriel Valley communities, including Pasadena, Temple City, San Marino and Arcadia. Utility workers handed out flashlights, ice and bottled water to affected residents.

'Tis the season for Santa Ana winds. Weather forecasters predicted Monday that the strongest Santa Anas of the year could arrive in Orange County today and continue with increasing strength through Wednesday. Gusts of up to 35 m.p.h. were expected to begin by late afternoon, said Steve Burback, a meteorologist for WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times. Wednesday's winds should be even stronger, Burback said.

"It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, wherever the wind blows." That's what Joan Didion had to say about Southern California's legendary Santa Ana winds in her classic story, "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream." In "Red Wind," mystery writer Raymond Chandler put it differently, something about the wind-induced fantasies of "meek little housewives"--fantasies involving carving knives and their husbands' necks.

Firefighters battling wind-whipped blazes around Los Angeles should get some help today from Mother Nature. But they had better take advantage of it while they can. Santa Ana winds that pushed brush fires out of control Wednesday throughout Southern California were expected to disappear today--but return on Friday. Weather forecasters said temperatures should drop and humidity should dramatically rise today--both of which will also help firefighters.

Warmer temperatures are expected today and into the weekend as the Santa Ana winds kick in again starting this afternoon. Winds heading northeast at 40-50 m.p.h. are expected in the canyons and passes, with temperatures in the upper 70s along the coast and in the upper 80s inland. Relative humidity will be about 30% under mostly clear skies. Saturday will be warmer and drier with the continuing Santa Ana conditions.

Santa Ana winds will bring sunny skies and higher temperatures to San Diego this weekend, the weather service said. "It will be a pleasant weekend, nice and sunny," said Dan Atkin of the National Weather Service in San Diego. A budding high pressure system over San Diego will team with the dry winds to deliver the Indian summer skies, Atkin said. The Santa Ana winds will peak Saturday, he said.

Powerful Santa Ana winds whipped through Southern California early today, knocking down power lines that spawned scattered electrical outages, traffic problems and at least one fire. As winds gusted up to 60 m.p.h., 13 power poles snapped in the northeast San Fernando Valley, the Department of Water and Power said, leaving an estimated 4,000 customers without electricity in the Sylmar and Pacoima areas.

The winds reached 97 mph at one mountain peak. More than 380,000 homes lost power. Thousands of trees snapped, blocking roads and damaging property. Scores of schools were closed, as was Griffith Park. And motorists battled gridlock caused by broken traffic signals and blowing debris. The storm, which produced some of the strongest wind gusts in more than a decade, was caused by a highly unusual weather system that even had experts marveling at its power. While Santa Ana winds are common this time of year, this storm was anything but. The winds were produced by two separate weather systems that channeled cold air from the north into the Los Angeles area.

Fierce Santa Ana winds struck Wednesday evening, knocking out power to parts of Los Angeles International Airport and in several Westside and San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods. The Los Angeles Fire Department and other agencies reported trees down throughout the area, including one that fell on a house on North Beverly Drive and took several power lines with it. It was unclear whether that incident caused the widespread outage. At LAX, at least 20 flights had to be diverted to LA/Ontario International Airport and others were put in holding patterns, officials said.

Southland residents, tens of thousands of them without electricity, braced for a second onslaught of cold and freakishly powerful winds late Thursday, having barely had time to assess the fallen trees and shredded rooftops left by the previous night's barrage. "Nobody in our department has ever seen such widespread damage. Nobody," said Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, talking of scores of city parks so littered with broken branches and teetering trees that they were considered a threat to public safety.

Strong Santa Ana winds could create dangerous fire conditions in Southern California over the next several days. The National Weather Service issued a high wind and fire watch for Wednesday evening through Saturday, with possible hurricane-speed gusts of 80 mph or more in the mountain passes of Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties. Gusts of more than 60 mph are possible in some lower-lying areas. The winds, which could shape up to be the strongest offshore event the region has seen in years, are expected to reach their highest intensity Wednesday night through Friday morning, potentially toppling trees and power lines and creating hazardous driving conditions, as well as a significant fire hazard.

Citing bountiful winter rains, fire officials Thursday forecast a "normal" wildfire season but cautioned that Southern California's green hillsides could turn combustible in time for late summer's fire-inducing Santa Ana winds. Emerging from a meeting of federal, state and local fire bosses, L.A. County Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby said the lush winter growth had already spawned 400 more fire starts than at this time last year and warned "we have to brace ourselves" for late-season fires.

A wind advisory has been issued for several Southern California valley and canyon areas as Santa Ana winds and high temperatures return to the region over the next few days. The National Weather Service said the winds and warm conditions increase the risk of brush fires. Winds gusts could top 35 mph in the Santa Clarita Valley, parts of the Antelope Valley as well as the San Fernando Valley. Forecasters also predicted a heat wave through Thursday, with temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal.

Why does Malibu seem to erupt in flames every fall, while most of Los Angeles, which has its share of houses clinging to brushy hillsides, does not? The reason, according to a new study, is blowing in the wind. Researchers have developed the first high-resolution map of Santa Ana wind events, showing that the hot, dry blasts don't sweep uniformly across the Southland and that the danger of large, wind-whipped wildfires is therefore greater in some parts of the region than others.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' decision today to study an automated wildfire detection and response system was lauded by residents of wildfire-prone foothill communities, but fire experts are skeptical whether such technology exists or if it would be effective. The board authorized studying a 24-hour, all-weather system that could result in wildfires being put out within minutes of starting. "The Station fire graphically spotlights the need to study and identify solutions for establishing an automated early detection system," the motion by Supervisor Mike Antonovich reads.