Winds drive California's wildfire season. But people are what make it so dangerous
California’s problem with wildfires is reminiscent of a line from the “Pogo” comic strip: We have met the enemy and he is us.
Since about 2000, California has been mostly in a drought. Wet and dry periods tend to be decadal events, Patzert said. The preceding period from 1978 to 1998 was mostly wet in California, but before that, the period from about 1945 to 1978 was largely dry. Trees that are too dense compete with one another and end up starved for water. They are exploited by pests such as bark beetles, which have always been present in the ecosystem. The beetles are able to get the upper hand when trees are too tightly packed together and stressed for water. The trees lack sufficient protective sap, creating a chink in their natural armor.
The other two are the Cajon Pass, through which the 15 Freeway travels, and the Santa Clara River Valley, which forms a wind tunnel-like corridor essentially connecting the high desert and the Santa Clarita Valley with the Oxnard Plain on the Ventura County coast between Oxnard and Ojai.Toward the eastern part of that corridor, the recent Saddleridge fire was the third blaze near Sylmar in 11 years.
The typical setup for a Santa Ana event occurs when a surface high-pressure system moves east across California’s Central Coast. As it traverses the coast, its circulation generates northerly winds through every north-south canyon and pass in the Santa Ynez range of southern Santa Barbara County, and then through the 5 Freeway corridor immediately to the east.
Santa Ana winds are sometimes compared to a hair dryer. They suck remaining moisture out of fuel and can fan any spark into a raging inferno as efficiently as a blacksmith’s bellows. They also carry burning embers beyond a wildfire, spreading the inferno.
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