MARIO TAMA / Getty Images via AFP
The Pacific Palisades neighborhood fire rages just outside Los Angeles, California, on January 7, 2025.
UNITED STATES – One of the most intense wind events in more than a decade. On the outskirts of Los Angeles, the violent forest fire ravaging the Pacific Palisades area has already destroyed more than 6,500 hectares this Wednesday, January 8, causing five deaths and injuries, according to a provisional report. Around 30,000 people are also under evacuation orders and 1,400 firefighters are trying to put out the flames, fanned by the Santa Ana winds.
These winds, well known in Southern California where they can appear many times a year – 20 episodes in 2024 -, blew up to 160 km/h on Tuesday. They generally occur between the end of September and May, during episodes lasting a few days.
“These are winds coming from Utah, a few hundred kilometers away. It’s a desert area, and it creates a hot, dry wind that comes down through the mountains and rushes through canyons, into valleys, (where) the wind will accelerate.”summarizes this Wednesday on BFMTV the environmental journalist François Pitrel (listen to the video below). When this air “arrives on the shores, (this gives) a hot, dry, fast wind, on vegetation that is itself very dry because it hasn’t rained much this winter in California: it’s the perfect cocktail for a fire. »
“This wind will propel the embers which will play a game of leapfrog, which will sometimes travel tens, hundreds of meters and create new homes a little further away”he adds. Like the action of a hairdryer, Santa Ana winds strip vegetation of much of its moisture, allowing fire to catch more quickly and vegetation to burn more easily.
Strong winds until Thursday
The wind forces recorded on Tuesday and Wednesday – at 160 km/h – are among the worst possible scenarios. Typically, Santa Ana winds are recorded between 95 and 130 km/h. “This is expected to be the strongest wind event in this region since 2011”announces American meteorologist Daniel Swain. The gusts are expected to last until Thursday, a day when winds are expected to decrease to 95 km/h, which could slow the spread of the flames.
After two very rainy years which reinvigorated the vegetation, southern California suffered “the driest start to winter on record”specifies Daniel Swain. In other words, anything that has grown back abundantly now acts as fuel.
“November, December, January… There is no more fire season. It takes place all year round »recalled California Governor Gavin Newsom. Scientists also regularly point out that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.fr
