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The Santa Anas are katabatic winds (Greek for "flowing downhill") arising in higher altitudes and blowing down towards sea level. [7] The National Weather Service defines Santa Ana winds as "a weather condition [in southern California] in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions".
A katabatic wind originates from the difference of density of two air masses located above a slope. This density difference usually comes from temperature difference, even if humidity may also play a role. Schematically katabatic winds can be divided into two types for which the mechanisms are slightly different: the katabatic winds due to ...
How do they form? Santa Anas are created by high pressure over the Great Basin — the vast desert interior of the West overlapping several states. The sinking air loses its moisture and flows in a clockwise direction toward Southern California, where it must get past towering mountain ranges that separate the desert from the metropolitan ...
Santa Ana winds are katabatic, gravity-driven winds, draining air off the high deserts, while the Diablo-type wind originates mainly from strongly sinking air from aloft, pushed toward the coast by higher pressure aloft. Thus, Santa Anas are strongest in canyons, whereas a Diablo wind is first noted and blows strongest atop the various mountain ...
Santa Ana winds and, their Bay Area cousin, the Diablo winds occur when air from a region of high pressure over the dry Great Basin region of the U.S. flows westward toward lower pressure located ...
How do the Santa Ana winds form? The winds are created by high pressure over the Great Basin — a desert region that spans several states, including California, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.
The Santa Ana winds form in a western area of the country known as the Great Basin, which includes Nevada and part of Utah. The basin sits at a higher elevation than Southern California.
Do the winds affect people? Santa Ana winds can sweep urban pollution away, creating sparkling vistas. At the same time, the extreme lack of moisture dries out lips, noses, throats and skin. In the short story “Red Wind,” Raymond Chandler captured the emotional effect: “There was a desert wind blowing that night.