1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, when the Santa Ana winds 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: blow in southern California, everyone takes notice, too many in 4 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: the region, writers, singers, poets, and everyone else. They're a harbinger, 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: mostly of no good. Scientifically speaking, the Santa Anna's are 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: something else, entirely a perennial natural phenomenon whose future effects 7 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: are now warped by a warming planet. Climate scientist Alexander 8 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: Gershnov with the scripts Institution of Oceanography at UC San 9 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: Diego told the university's news service in early nineteen climate 10 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: change has been projected to lengthen the dry season in 11 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: California and other Mediterranean climate regions, making vegetation more likely 12 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: to remain dry into December. These changes, together with the 13 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: projected lessening of least season Santa Ana winds, suggest that 14 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: southern California's wildfire season could shift toward winter, longer, more 15 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: dangerous dry seasons, wildfires raging later in the year, changes 16 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: in the winds. It's potentially dramatic stuff. It might seem 17 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: the stuff of Hollywood, but let's back up a step. 18 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: Santa Ana winds are dry and warm winds from the 19 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: Great Basin, an area that incorporates large parts of the 20 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: states of Nevada and Utah. The winds start in the 21 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: basins inland deserts east and north of southern California, and 22 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: then flow downward, taking a turn toward the Pacific Ocean. 23 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: The Santa Anna's are usually, but not always, late year 24 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: winds that form when the weather is cooler in the 25 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: Great Basin. They don't begin in hot deserts. They actually 26 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: start off as cool winds and are pushed towards southern 27 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: California by high pressure systems. But as the wind's head 28 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: down slope, they get both warmer because air generally heats 29 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: up as it descends, and drier air only a mile 30 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: above your head right now maybe some thirty degrees fahrenheit 31 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: warmer than the air around you. In metric that's the difference, 32 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: say between twenty one degrees celsius where you are and 33 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: thirty eight some six up. It doesn't take much of 34 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: an altitude change to make a difference. Because of this 35 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: and a number of other circumstances, the Santa Annas have 36 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: a reputation. These winds most often whip into southern California 37 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: during the driest part of the year, providing a metaphoric 38 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: bit of gasoline to the already fire ready tinder in 39 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: the area. For example, in December of the Santa Anna's 40 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: fueled the largest fire in southern California's history, the Thomas Fire, 41 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: which burned four hundred and forty square miles that's eleven 42 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:03,239 Speaker 1: thousand square kilometers Inventor and Santa Barbara Counties. The winds 43 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: also fanned the flames of the October two thousand seven 44 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: and two thousand three wildfires, and all of these have 45 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: caused serious damage to property and the people in wild 46 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: life that lived there from the fires themselves, but also 47 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: from smoke. According to a paper published in the journal 48 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: Geophysical Research Letters in the frequency of Santa ana wind 49 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: events is actually decreasing and may drop by an average 50 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: of eighteen percent by the end of the twenty first century. 51 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: This is largely because the Great Basin will have fewer 52 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: days of the cold weather that's necessary to form the winds. 53 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: Though that may sound like good news, it's not. The 54 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: Santa Anna's will still have a busy period as they 55 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: do now, and it will come in the peak of 56 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: a later possibly longer wildfire season. That peak will shift 57 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: from October into November and the early winter months, which 58 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: could lead to bigger wildfires that burn longer. As a 59 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: weather phenomenon that's unique to southern California, the Santa Anna's 60 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: have long been associated with a certain feel. Novelist Raymond Chandler, 61 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: a long time so Cal resident famed for detective stories 62 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: like The Big Sleep, described a windy Santa Anna knight 63 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: in his short story Red Wind. Quote. On nights like that, 64 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives 65 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: feel the edge of the carving knife and study their 66 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: husband's necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a 67 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge. On the 68 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: other hand, Santa Anna's can sweep out impurities in the air, 69 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: provide welcome warmth, and offer bright blue skies and stunning 70 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: sunsets in the winter. The Beach Boys took this more 71 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: upbeat look at the winds and their song Santa Ana Winds, 72 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: fill my sails a desert wind and hold the waves 73 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: high for me. Then I will come and test my 74 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: skill where the Santa Ana winds blow free. Still, too 75 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: many residents in the area the Santa Annas have an 76 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: ominous feel to them. Essayist Joan Didion wrote in her 77 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: essay The Santa Anna's, published as part of Los Angeles 78 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: Notebook and Slouching towards Bethlehem in I have neither heard 79 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: nor read that a Santa Anna is due, but I 80 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,840 Speaker 1: know it, and almost everyone I've seen today knows it too. 81 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,039 Speaker 1: We know it because we feel it. The baby frets, 82 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: the maide sulks, I rekindle a waning argument with the 83 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: telephone company, then cut my losses and lie down, given 84 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,719 Speaker 1: over to whatever it is in the air. To live 85 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,720 Speaker 1: with the Santa Anna is to accept, consciously or unconsciously, 86 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:52,919 Speaker 1: a deeply mechanistic view of human behavior. Whatever lies in 87 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: store for the Santa Annas and all they reap is 88 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 1: still a matter for the future. But for now, the warm, 89 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: dry i winds continue to blow the citizens of southern California. 90 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: You can feel it. Today's episode is based on the 91 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: article what are the sent to Anna Winds? On House 92 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: to forwarks dot com, written by John Donovan. Brainstuff is 93 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how s 94 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 1: toff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler playing 95 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: four more podcasts from my heart Radio. This is the 96 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,840 Speaker 1: I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 97 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.