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Santa Ana Winds of Southern California: Their Climatology, Extremes and Behavior Spanning Six and Half Decades

Abstract

Santa Ana Winds (SAWs) are an integral feature of the regional climate of Southern California/Northern Baja California region, but their climate-scale behavior is poorly understood. In the present work, we identify SAWs in mesoscale dynamical downscaling of a global reanalysis from 1948 to 2012. Model winds are validated with anemometer observations. SAWs exhibit an organized pattern with strongest easterly winds on westward facing downwind slopes and muted magnitudes at sea and over desert lowlands. We construct hourly local and regional SAW indices and analyze elements of their behavior on daily, annual, and multidecadal timescales. SAWs occurrences peak in winter, but some of the strongest winds have occurred in fall. Finally, we observe that SAW intensity is influenced by prominent large-scale low-frequency modes of climate variability rooted in the tropical and north Pacific ocean-atmosphere system.

Article / Publication Data
Active/Online
YES
Volume
43
Available Metadata
Accepted On
March 09, 2016
DOI ↗
Fiscal Year
NOAA IR URL ↗
Peer Reviewed
YES
Publication Name
Geophysical Research Letters
Published On
March 24, 2016
Publisher Name
American Geophysical Union
Print Volume
43
Print Number
6
Page Range
2827-2834
Issue
6
Submitted On
January 27, 2016
URL ↗

Institutions

Not available

Authors

Authors who have authored or contributed to this publication.

  • Janin Guzman-Morales - lead None
    Other
  • Haiqin Li - fourth Gsl
    Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
    NOAA/Global Systems Laboratory