- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The introduction to an in-depth story on Santa Ana winds in Los Angeles Magazine says the predictable and powerful hot desert winds that annually fan Southern California fires "push tempers toward violence." That comment may have been prompted by reporter David Gardetta's telephone interview for the article with the co-director of the UC Berkeley Fire Center, Max Moritz.
As quoted in the story, Moritz strongly lamented the fact that fire research has largely focused on fuel instead of wind.
“This is the source of my frustration and the story of my latest crusade. I’ve been yelling for years that winds like the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
As firefighters begin to get the upper hand on the Southern California wildfires, the co-director of the UC Berkeley fire center had the opportunity to give Los Angeles Times readers a glimpse of research underway on this perennial threat.
Max Moritz and his colleague Alex Hall of UCLA are mapping Santa Ana wind corridors in Southern California. The Santa Anas blow when desert winds push down canyons over passes and low mountains, warming and gaining speed along the way, according to the Times article. Fires tend to rage along specific corridors. A corridor along the Santa Susanna Pass, for example,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Unfortunately, Santa Ana winds are as reliable a part of Southern California's autumn as colorful fall foliage is for New England. Santa Anas are strong, extremely dry offshore winds often associated with the warmest weather and fiercest fires in the southern part of the state; 2008 is no exception.
According to the Associated Press, powerful winds stoked three major wildfires this morning after destroying dozens of homes, forcing thousands to flee and killing two people.
An article in the
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Pacific fishers are at the center of a conundrum. Most people have never seen them, but judging from photos of researchers cuddling the furry creatures, they are adorable. The nocturnal and obsessively shy fisher is related to the mink, otter and marten. They once ranged from British Columbia down through California's Sierra Nevada, but only two native populations remain today -- one around the western California/Oregon border, and one in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, according to the Environmental Protection Information Center.
Fishers' preferred home in dead trees and their tendency to move around put them at odds...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Last July, when the summer's most ferocious wildfires near wine country were still smoldering, Wine Spectator magazine suggested the 2008 vintage could be tainted by the smoke.
An article in today's Santa Rosa Press-Democrat seems to confirm that the magazine's early prediction is coming to fruition, at least in Mendocino County.
“Winemakers are saying that they think stuff is smelling funny to them, and they want to know what’s going on,” the Press-Democrat article quoted Glenn...
