Once in a Generation Wind Event

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The high winds that devastated Southern California are moving across the country. Mid-America has experienced high winds as well, though they are not as ferocious as the Santa Ana winds were as they swept through Cali. Big rigs lie on their side, power lines swing dangerously from the poles, houses and streets are dark with no electricity, and fallen trees and tree branches litter the landscape in the wake of the winds.

The Mayor of Los Angeles, Mayor Villaraigosa (I prefer Villa-la-raza), called it a "Once in a generation wind event."

In Southern California residents continue to be urged to remain indoors, and to be prompt in reporting any emergencies like downed power lines. The hundred mile an hour winds, that in Mammoth were actually estimated to have hit over 170 miles per hour (150 mph was the highest the sensors could detect), caused heavy damage throughout the Southland, including 25 structural fires.

We live just outside the southern edge of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and are so close to San Diego County that the Temecula Valley is often clumped into San Diego. Though here the winds were not as ferocious, we endured our own series of fallen trees and other wind-related damage. Downed power lines was not as much a problem since almost all of those lines in the Temecula/Murrieta area are underground.

Possibly named Santa Anas in relation to the former name, "Devil's Wind," the winds blew through quick, and deadly, just like the blustery Mexican general and president, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (another theory regarding the origin of the name).

In Raymond Chandler's 1938 short story Red Wind (another name for the winds), the Santa Anas were described as "those hot dry [winds] that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Mayor Villaraigosa Asks Residents To Stay Indoors, Brace For More Winds - CBS Los Angeles

West continues to grapple with windstorm damage - USA Today

Santa Ana winds: Gusts top 150 mph at Mammoth Mountain - Los Angeles Times