The Valley (the San Fernado Valley for those of you outside LA) is totally on fire! It was scary to see the flames.
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I watched the ABC News last night and they talked about how the Santa Ana winds carried the fire over the Foothill Freeway.
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For those you you who don't know (and I assume that is most of you) the Foothill Freeway (the 210) is 8 lanes
and a median wide.
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That is a hell of a fire break to be jumped by the fire.
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It is being pushed by the Santa Ana winds (like every year about this time). The Santa Ana's are fairly dry winds to begin with as they originate form high pressure in the desert. Then they blow towards LA, but there is a ring of Mountains around LA - so they are blocked. But the high pressure from the desert forces them up and over the mountains. In the process of being pushed over the mountains, 2 things happen.
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1. Every last drop of moisture is squeezed out of the air.
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2. The high pressure forces the air to collapse into a smaller space, which increases the temperature of the air.
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As this condensed hot air spills over the mountains (which rise to about 7,0o0 feet on average), the pressure on the Los Angeles / sea side of the mountains is much less. So the hot dry air races into the San Fernado Valley and other routes to the sea..
That is why you get 80 mile an hour winds, at 80 degrees at night with NO moisture. And those are the kind of winds that jump fire lines... Even 8 lane highway fire lines.
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It is freaky. (pictures from BBC)
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On the other hand
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(And I do feel guilty even saying this...)
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When UCLA plays at the Rose Bowl during / after a crazy ass fire - we kick ass and take names. Watch out Stanford.
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I remember when I was a yell leader we played Purdue once and they walked onto the field at 3Pm and the sky was dark brown, sooty and you could see a red glow in the distance. Purdue players looked like they had just wanted into the suburbs of hell. We won the upset in a rout!