Editing Santa Ana winds (section)

== Historical impact ==
[[File:Hygrometer showing low humidity during a Santa Ana wind event.jpg|thumb|[[Hygrometer]] showing low humidity during a Santa Ana wind event]]
The Santa Ana winds and the accompanying raging wildfires have been a part of the ecosystem of the [[Los Angeles Basin]] for over 5,000 years, dating back to the earliest habitation of the region by the [[Tongva]] and [[Tataviam people|Tataviam]] peoples.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rutten |first=Tim |date=October 15, 2000 |title=L.A., land of fire -- always |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rutten15-2008oct15,0,2110984.column |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606164351/http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rutten15-2008oct15,0,2110984.column |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |access-date=May 3, 2013 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> The Santa Ana winds have been recognized and reported in English-language records as a weather phenomenon in Southern California since at least the mid-nineteenth century.<ref name="KCET Devil Winds" /> During the [[Mexican–American War]], Commodore [[Robert F. Stockton|Robert Stockton]] reported that a "strange, dust-laden windstorm" arrived in the night while his troops were marching south through California in January 1847.<ref name="Vasquez2008">{{Cite journal |last=Vasquez |first=Tim |date=September 2008 |title=The Ill Wind That Blows: Southern California's Santa Ana Phenomenon |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/WEWI.61.5.34-39 |journal=Weatherwise |language=en |volume=61 |issue=5 |pages=34–39 |doi=10.3200/WEWI.61.5.34-39 |bibcode=2008Weawi..61e..34V |s2cid=191474465 |issn=0043-1672}}</ref> Various episodes of hot, dry winds have been described over this history as dust storms, hurricane-force winds, and violent north-easters, damaging houses and destroying fruit orchards. Newspaper archives have many photographs of regional damage dating back to the beginnings of news reporting in Los Angeles. When the Los Angeles Basin was primarily an agricultural region, the winds were feared particularly by farmers for their potential to destroy crops.<ref name="KCET Devil Winds" />

The strongest Santa Ana winds yet recorded occurred in early December 2011. An atmospheric set-up occurred that allowed the towns of [[Pasadena]] and [[Altadena]] in the San Gabriel Valley to get whipped by sustained winds at {{convert|97|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, and gusts up to {{convert|167|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}.<ref name="possible record">{{cite web|url=https://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/big-winds-in-the-west-possible-wind-gust-record-in-california.html|title=Big Winds in the West, Possible Wind Gust Record in California|author=Christopher C. Burt|publisher=Weather Underground|date=4 December 2011|access-date=24 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112185522/https://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/big-winds-in-the-west-possible-wind-gust-record-in-california.html|archive-date=12 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/us/santa-ana-winds-buffet-california.html?_r=0 |title=Santa Ana Winds, Unusually Strong, Rattle More Than Nerves in California |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2 December 2011 |access-date=2017-02-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113003301/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/us/santa-ana-winds-buffet-california.html?_r=0 |archive-date=2017-11-13 |last1=Medina |first1=Jennifer }}</ref> Mammoth Mountain experienced a near-record wind gust of {{convert|175|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, on December 1, 2011.<ref name="possible record" />

=== Wildfires ===
{{main|California wildfires}}

Because they are simultaneously "gusty" and "desiccating", the Santa Ana winds are highly associated with regional wildfire danger.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Null |first=Jan |date=2015-07-04 |title=Weather and Wildland Fires: Firefighting in an Age of Droughts and Urban Sprawl |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00431672.2015.1045368 |journal=Weatherwise |language=en |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=28–33 |doi=10.1080/00431672.2015.1045368 |bibcode=2015Weawi..68d..28N |s2cid=191207829 |issn=0043-1672}}</ref> The winds have been implicated in some of the area's (and even the state's) largest and deadliest [[wildfire]]s.

[[File:Firemen run up Mt. Washington hill to put down wildfire flames in Los Angeles, Calif., 1961 (Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library).jpg|thumb|Firemen run up [[Mount Washington, Los Angeles|Mt. Washington]] hill to put down wildfire flames in Los Angeles, 1961 (''Los Angeles Times'' Photographic Collection, UCLA Library)]]
Major Santa Ana-fueled fires prior to 2000 included the [[Santiago Canyon Fire]] (1889), [[Bel Air Fire]] (1961),<ref name="Lessard1988">{{Cite journal |last=Lessard |first=Arthur G. |date=April 1988 |title=The Santa Ana Wind of Southern California |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00431672.1988.9925254 |journal=Weatherwise |language=en |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=100–104 |doi=10.1080/00431672.1988.9925254 |bibcode=1988Weawi..41b.100L |issn=0043-1672}}</ref> [[1978 Agoura-Malibu firestorm|Agoura-Malibu firestorm]] (1978), Anaheim Fire (1982),<ref name="Lessard1988" /> [[Laguna Fire]] (1970), [[Laguna Fire (1993)|Laguna Fire]] (1993), and [[Kinneloa Fire]] (1993).

Major Santa Ana-fueled fires from 2000 to 2019 included [[Cedar Fire (2003)|Cedar Fire]] (2003), [[Old Fire]] (2003), [[Esperanza Fire]] (2006), [[October 2007 California wildfires#Witch Creek Fire|Witch Creek Fire]] (2007), [[October 2007 California wildfires]], [[Tea Fire]] (2008), [[Sayre Fire]] (2008), [[Freeway Complex Fire]] (2008), [[May 2014 San Diego County wildfires]], [[December 2017 Southern California wildfires]], and the [[Thomas Fire]] (2018).

Major Santa Ana-fueled fires from 2020 to present include the [[El Dorado Fire]] (2020), [[Bobcat Fire]] (2020), and [[Franklin Fire]] (2024). The Santa Ana winds heavily aggravated a [[January 2025 Southern California wildfires|series of wildfires in January 2025]] including the [[Eaton Fire]] and the [[Palisades Fire]] during an exceptionally strong wind event. These fires burned through over 35,000 acres (14,163 ha)<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |date=2025-01-12 |title=California wildfires live updates: Death toll rises to 16 as Palisades Fire expands east to Brentwood and Encino |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/california-wildfires-live-updates-rcna187240 |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> and have killed 24 people.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Fioresi |first1=Dean |last2=Rodriguez |first2=Matthew |title=Eaton Fire erupts in canyons above Altadena, forcing evacuations - CBS Los Angeles |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/eaton-canyon-altadena-brush-fire-strong-winds/ |access-date=8 January 2025 |work=[[KCAL News]] |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date=7 January 2025}}</ref> The winds aggravating the fires reached over {{convert|80|mph}} in some areas,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Keeley |first=Jon |date=2025-01-09 |title=How Santa Ana winds fueled the deadly fires in Southern California |url=https://theconversation.com/how-santa-ana-winds-fueled-the-deadly-fires-in-southern-california-246965 |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> with wind speeds comparable to that of a Category 1 hurricane.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale |url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=U.S. NOAA National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center |language=en-US}}</ref>