bskuaredIt's Hip To Be Square Premium Member join:2001-12-02 San Clemente, CA 1 edit
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bskuared
Premium Member
2005-Sep-29 1:51 am
Santa Ana WindsI've always thought these descriptions were dead on.
------------------------------------ Joan Didion, "Santa Ana," in Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1990):
There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air this afternoon, some unnatural stillness, some tension. What it means is that tonight a Santa Ana will begin to blow, a hot wind from the northeast whining down through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Passes, blowing up sand storms out along Route 66, drying the hills and the nerves to flash point. For a few days now we will see smoke back in the canyons, and hear sirens in the night. I have neither heard nor read that a Santa Ana is due, but I know it, and almost everyone I have seen today knows it too. We know it because we feel it. The baby frets. The maid sulks. I rekindle a waning argument with the telephone company, then cut my losses and lie down, given over to whatever it is in the air. To live with the Santa Ana is to accept, consciously or unconsciously, a deeply mechanistic view of human behavior.
Also the following from Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream, by Joan Didion (1968):
The San Bernardino Valley lies only an hour east of Los Angeles by the San Bernardino Freeway but is in certain ways an alien place: not the coastal California of the subtropical twilights and the soft westerlies off the Pacific but a harsher California, haunted by the Mojave just beyond the mountains, devastated by the hot dry Santa Ana wind that comes down through the passes at 100 miles and whines through the eucalyptus windbreaks and works on the nerves. October is the bad month for the wind, the month when breathing is difficult and the hills blaze up spontaneously. There has been no rain since April. Every voice seems a scream. It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, wherever the wind blows.
Lastly this excerpt from The Red Wind by Raymond Chandler (1938):
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas 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 husband's necks. Anything can happen. |
actions · 2005-Sep-29 1:51 am · (locked) |
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Thanks for the post, those are great descriptions. Growing up in and living most of my life in one of SoCal's windier areas, I've always had something of a fascination and respect for the Santa Anas. They bring a little something extra that always adds a little excitement, gets the adrenaline flowing and affects the mood of just about everyone within their reach. |
actions · 2005-Sep-29 2:35 am · (locked) |
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No_Strings goes to lock up the knives, just in case. |
actions · 2005-Sep-29 8:52 am · (locked) |
ghostpainterI Write for the Apocalypse MVM join:2002-05-25 Rancho Cucamonga, CA |
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I remember the great wind storm of 1958...A fire started up in little Creek and laid down for a couple of days until 100 mph Santa Ana's came whipping thru the area and drove the fire along the base of the mountain into Cucamonga and Upland, where 100 Fire Trucks and there men stood along Foothill waiting for the fire to come to them.
I always remember a wall of fire raging down across Grove Ave and Foothill as all of a sudden the firefighters all turned there hoses on at the same time. (sounds like a movie, but I was 9 at the time).
That's how I remember the early Santa Ana's. |
actions · 2005-Sep-29 10:59 am · (locked) |
BIGMIKEQ Premium Member join:2002-06-07 Gainesville, FL |
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Devil Winds Santa Ana winds may get their name from the Santa Ana Mountains that lie in Orange County or the Santa Ana Canyon through which the winds are noted for their high speed. Many Southern Californians believe that the traditional name is Santanas, meaning devil winds in an undetermined language. The similar word "Satanás" is Spanish for "Satan." Santanas was occasionally used in early reports, but modern scholars have not agreed on the etymology of the word. It is rarely spelled that way today, though the pronunciation is still heard. » en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa ··· na_winds |
actions · 2005-Sep-29 2:56 pm · (locked) |
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bskuaredIt's Hip To Be Square Premium Member join:2001-12-02 San Clemente, CA |
bskuared
Premium Member
2005-Sep-30 12:05 am
that's interesting! |
actions · 2005-Sep-30 12:05 am · (locked) |
CurtesyFlushBababooey, fafafooey, tatatoothy. Premium Member join:2002-08-23 Fontana, CA |
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There was (still is) a condition that we in the FD waited for with anticipation every late summer and fall. We called it the "triple witching time". This was the combination of a Santa Ana wind condition, a full moon, and a long holiday weekend.
Most of the time we wouldn't get back to the station between calls; we'd clear one call and be dispatched to another immediately. Brush and grass fires, car fires, structure fires, crashes, stabbings, shootings, suicides, troubled birthings, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
I once went 84 hours before getting getting back to the station. This was 84 hours with virtually no sleep as we went flitting from call to call to call. I was young and able to live off reserves of adrenaline back then. Adrenaline and military C-Rations. Powdered coffee in a bean can. Blech.
The Santa Anas make some folks crazy mean, others just crazy. These hot, dry winds blow across the land at 80 to 100 mph, sucking almost all the moisture from the air as well as a person's skin. The winds also suck reason, restraint, and common sense from many of the denizens that feel the Santa Ana's heavy hand.
I love 'em. I'm disappointed I missed the first blow of the season. I never feel more alive than when the Devil Winds are scorching the Southland.
They're in my blood. |
actions · 2005-Oct-26 7:28 am · (locked) |
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Good post Jack! I'm not particularly fond of Santa Anas but I would rather have them than an ice storm or persistent snow. I've sometimes taken 4, 5 or even more showers per day when the Santa Anas blow. You feel gritty even when you're clean and unfortunatley water cures it for only a short time and then you need another shower. |
actions · 2005-Oct-26 3:26 pm · (locked) |
RR ConductorRidin' the rails Premium Member join:2002-04-02 Redwood Valley, CA |
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Good post, thanks squared! They left out the rail lines in the description though, road bias, blech |
actions · 2005-Oct-26 8:43 pm · (locked) |