Santa Ana Winds: A Descriptive Climatology

The criteria used to define Santa Ana winds (SAWs) are dependent upon both the impact of interest (e.g., catastrophic wildfires) and the location and/or time of day examined. We employ a comprehensive definition and methodology for constructing a climatological SAW time series from 1981 through 2016 for two Southern California regions, Los Angeles and San Diego. For both regions, we examine SAW climatology, distinguish SAW-associated synoptic-scale atmospheric patterns, and detect long-term, significant SAW trends. San Diego has 30% fewer SAW days compared to Los Angeles with 80% of SAW events starting in Los Angeles first. Further, 45% of San Diego SAW events are single-day events compared to 35% for Los Angeles. The longest duration event spanned 16 days for Los Angeles (27 November–12 December 1988) and 8 days for San Diego (9–16 January 2009). Although SAW-driven fires can be large and devastating, these types of fires occurred on only 6% and 5% of SAW days for the Los Angeles and San Diego regions, respectively. Finally, we find and investigate an extended period of elevated SAW day count occurring after 2005. This new climatology will allow us to produce month- and season-ahead forecasts of SAW days, which is useful for planning end-of-year staffing coverage by the local, state, and federal fire agencies.