Words of Wisdom from SharLeigh
THE WINDSTORMS
OF CALIFORNIA
California is famous for its violent windstorms, but what creates the wind? Wind energy is created by solar energy. Yes, the energy of wind starts with the sun. The earth’s atmosphere is made up of air molecules heated by the sun. Since the earth is not flat, this creates an uneven heating of its surface. Where the sun generates the most heat the atmosphere gets warmer and the air particles begin to spread out. As the warm air rises, cool air molecules rush in to replace them, causing the air to move. Once the wind is created it moves across the land. The surface of the land changes the wind movement. Mountain ranges may form wind tunnels, forcing large amounts of wind through narrow passes. An excellent example of this is the Santa Ana winds that rage through Southern California. This violent wind originates in the high desert, then gets funneled through valleys and canyons into the L.A. Basin. In the Santa Barbara area on the coast, the Santa Ana winds are weaker because there is no prominent mountain passes for the wind to funnel through. Instead, the Sundowner wind is a westerly offshore wind that blows down off the mountains and west toward the ocean. The Diablo winds (devil winds) are common around San Francisco and are formed by dense winds aloft that blow across the mountains and ridges surrounding the Bay Area. The force of the wind in a windstorm is an amazing and fierce thing to behold. Years ago, right after a Santa Ana event, I was traveling on the freeway and it looked like a war zone – trucks were on their side and scattered all over the road. The next time you are heading into a “Gusty Wind” area, you might want to think twice and just pull over.