The Two Types of Santa Ana Wind Events: Implications for Regional Wildfires

Santa Ana events over southern California bring strong, offshore-directed winds and low relative humidifies that have been associated with many major wildfire events over the region. This presentation will show that Santa Ana's can be divided into two main types: those associated with mainly gap flow and those associated with predominantly downslope flow, with only a very small number of events exhibiting both characteristics. The synoptic conditions and local wind distributions associated with both types of events will be described, and the ability of high-resolution models to skillfully forecast such events will be examined.  

Please note the timing of this presentation is 12:00-1:00pm MT, unlike the rest of the series.