At least 10 people are believed to be dead from the fires.
Ensuring the immediate safety of the residents is the priority, experts say.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/california-wildfires-impossible/story?id=117506137
Very often, when the West Coast has an upper level ridge in place(favorable for fires), downstream, the Midwest will have stormy and cold weather from an upper level trough based on teleconnections/spacing between large scale features(ridge-west/trough-east/Midwest couplet).
1. 850 mb map
2. 700 mb map
3. 500 mb map
4. 250 mb map
Jeff Haby
Select a tutorial below or scroll down...
Those were upper level maps on the previous page which controls the large scale pattern that manifests itself at the surface with Santa Anna winds. We see them dozens of times each year but these particular Santa Ana Winds were incredibly strong and, unfortunately Los Angeles was not prepared to manage this particular event.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_winds
The Santa Ana winds, occasionally referred to as the devil winds,[1][2] are strong, extremely dry katabatic winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California and northern Baja California. They originate from cool, dry high-pressure air masses in the Great Basin.
Santa Ana winds are known for the hot, dry weather that they bring in autumn (often the hottest of the year), but they can also arise at other times of the year.[3] They often bring the lowest relative humidities of the year to coastal Southern California, and "beautifully clear skies".[4] These low humidities, combined with the warm, compressionally-heated air mass, plus high wind speeds, create critical fire weather conditions, and fan destructive wildfires.[4]
Typically, about 10 to 25 Santa Ana wind events occur annually.[5] A Santa Ana wind can blow from one to seven days, with an average wind event lasting three days.[6] The longest recorded Santa Ana event was a 14-day wind in November 1957.[5] Damage from high winds is most common along the Santa Ana River basin in Orange County, the Santa Clara River basin in Ventura and Los Angeles County, through Newhall Pass into the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, and through the Cajon Pass into San Bernardino County near San Bernardino, Fontana, and Chino.[6]
The Santa Anas are katabatic winds (Greek for "flowing downhill") arising in higher altitudes and blowing down towards sea level.[7] The National Weather Service defines Santa Ana winds as "a weather condition [in southern California] in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions".[8]
https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/cg7r7rrex8no
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The extreme pressure gradient between LOW pressure at the surface in the Southwest(which was part of the storm that just hit/is hitting the Midwest/South)and strong Arctic High Pressure farther north is what caused the extremely high winds. In some places blowing at hurricane force, 75+ mph.
can you imagine being a firefighter working in that environment?
The winds by themselves are extremely challenging.
Those intense winds were loaded with hot embers and suffocating smoke/particulate matter.
I found a map from Wednesday morning that helps to depict this.
It's 850 mb, which is a key layer above the surface by less than a mile.
The winds are in knots, so the blue 45+ knot constant wind isotach is over 50 mph constant wind. Winds normally are higher as we go up in the atmosphere but in this case the pressure gradient was so powerful at the surface that it created unusually strong winds just above the ground from the east.
This happens all the time in Southern California. However, there were some unusual factors this time, including lack of being prepared. Not sure what caused the blazes this time but very sadly, many of them are from arsonists and careless humans. In addition, LA did not have the water supplies or proper plans in place to manage something that really is very manageable if you have smart people using good planning and judgement.
Hats off to the firefighters that were working 16 hour shifts, risking their lives in extreme conditions to save lives! That's what they do!!
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in U.S. modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm’s chief meteorologist.
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Very sad to see these people lose everything.
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-fire-maps-palisades-eaton-hurst-2025/
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Fortunately, so far only 11 lives are reported lost. 11 is too many when 0 could have been possible.
Don't take this wrong about empathy for those in CA suffering horrible losses. We should very much have compassion for them. Help them. Learn things THIS TIME to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.
However, for perspective, on the other side of the world, because of our support, there are 2 million people in Gaza that have lost everything too. They were not rich, so the monetary value of their losses is a minuscule fraction of those in California.
In Gaza, there have been almost that many innocent people, mostly children and women killed or injured every hour or every day on average for the past 463 days of the genocide in Gaza.
In Ukraine, there have been that many causalities every 20 minutes of every day, on average for the 1,052 days of the Ukrainian war featuring soldiers from both sides being forced on suicide missions to serve the self serving interests of the US military-industrial-political-media complex.
Each one of those people had numerous family members, greatly suffering their losses just like you and I would mourn the loss of our loved ones.
It's good for us to see the realities in California to understand with clarity what's going on in our own great country. It incentivizes us to help them and to do better.
At the same time, our politicians and powerful gatekeepers are INTENTIONALLY doing this on a much more horrific scale to poor, innocent and powerless people in Ukraine and Gaza and spinning it into a fairy tale propaganda bonanza where no lie is too big. Manufacturing a lie that the US is being the good guy, when we are the most diabolical country on the planet when it comes to meddling in other countries for our self serving interests.
Genocide in Gaza
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/108676/
Biden/Zelensky WW-3
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/108760/
Every human being on this planet has tremendous value. We should be striving to lift up the poor and less fortunate, because we were born into wealth and prosperity by the luck of living in this great country......just like Jimmy Carter did.
Not abusing them to make the most powerful people in the US, even more powerful and rich.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/la-fires-cause-arson-power-20025016.php
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Can we depend on them to tell us the truth? Probably, especially if it isn't the result that implicates an inconvenient truth that information gatekeepers want covered up.
They concocted an absurd lie about the origin of the Covid virus that never made any sense.......then pushed it for years to cover up the truth........that it came from a lab leak in Wuhan. The no brainer reason.
By Hector RETAMAL 6 April 2020, 5:29 am
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metmike: Was it from power lines?
Arson?
What are the chances for numerous fires to start in the same time frame in different places? Very tiny unless the same thing caused them all, which suggests arson.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/la-wildfires-mapped-palisades-eaton-163539875.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall
Generate Key Takeaway
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This was my comment:
Climate change is warming the highest latitudes the most and tropics the least. Decreasing the meridional (north to south) temperature contrast which decreases the pressure gradient and wind.
A big reason for these extreme winds in California is the pressure gradient between the intense Arctic Highs with bitter cold dropping down from Canada into the middle of the country and low pressure in the Southwest......the complete opposite of global warming!
How many of these incidents did we have last Winter that was record warm in the Midwest???
None because of the warmth and lack of massive Arctic highs with bitter cold. And it rained alot the last 2 Winters in Southern California.
We have a natural La Nina in place. La Nina's are COLD water in the tropical Pacific. Global warming can't cause cold water in the tropical Pacific. La Nina's suppress rains in Southern California during the Winter. El Ninos are the complete opposite. WARM water in the tropical Pacific increases rain in South California, like the El Nino last Winter did.
More warmth in the tropical Pacific Ocean = more rain in Southern California in the Winter. In fact, many climate models INCREASE rains in California for just that reason.
As usual, every time there is a natural disaster where the weather played a role, we can expect the same people that don't understand the basics of meteorology 101 to embarrass themselves with the climate crisis blame game.
They've decided that everything bad is being caused by the climate crisis and nothing good.
According to their anti science world, we're killing the planet.......despite it greening up from the only true "green" energy......... fossil fuels.
The indisputable, scientific law of photosynthesis uses CO2 to grow plants faster and food for the creatures on earth, with its booming biosphere. Food production by humans is +26% just from the added, natural atmospheric fertilizer, CO2.
The optimal level of CO2 is just over double this. In fact, fossil fuel emissions rescued the planet from near CO2 starvation. Burning them returned the CO2 that was once there back to the atmosphere.
The climate CRISIS is almost all politics, junk science and complete nonsense!
This is irrefutably a SCIENTIFIC climate optimum.
Most life on this planet would like it to get a bit warmer yet and would greatly appreciate doubling the level of this beneficial gas.
The current pattern that is featuring EXTREME COLD will be favorable for more high wind events in Southern California the next 10 days!
Note below, from the Canadian Ensemble model, the very steep pressure gradient on the backside of the massive Arctic highs, in Southern California on these dates. The pressure is this high because dense, frigid air weighs so much. This is the complete opposite of last Winter and the complete opposite of warming in the mid latitudes.
This current pattern is featuring cross polar flow and suppression of moist winds from the Pacific because the atmosphere is in a NATURAL La Nina phase right now in tandem with the COLD temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific ocean. This is part of the natural variability in the weather.
https://weather.gc.ca/ensemble/charts_e.html?Hour=0&Day=0&RunTime=00&Type=pnm
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Monday January 20, 2025
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Tuesday, January 21, 2025
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Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Friday, January 24, 2025
This WEATHER pattern is the result of NATURAL variability.
Wednesday morning, 1-15-25. Arctic high pressure and frigid weather dominating much of the country with strong winds on the backside in the Southwest.
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Here is the next huge Arctic High dropping down from Canada(originating in Siberia) over the weekend, into early next week from the NWS. Note the very tightly packed isobars(lines/contours of constant pressure) on some days in Southern California. This is a Natural COLD weather pattern NOT caused by global warming or climate change.
As such, the prevailing principle that determines records like this is stated below with the "Golden Rule" because THE WEATHER played such a critical role.
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It really boils down to this, once again(Cliff Mass can be counted on as an elite source for using objective, authentic science)
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-golden-rule-of-climate-extremes.html
The GoldenRule
Considering the substantial confusion in the media about this critical issue, let me provide the GOLDENRULE OF CLIMATE EXTREMES. Here it is:
The more extreme a climate or weather record is, the greater the contribution of natural variability.
Or to put it a different way, the larger or more unusual an extreme, the higher proportion of the extreme is due to natural variability.
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How to reduce the incidence of this type of weather pattern?
Have more global warming!
This is what the jet stream at 300 mb (just below 30,000 feet and close to where most commercial airline planes fly) will look like to start next week. This is not the result of global warming or climate change. It's natural variability in the weather.
This weather pattern is manifested below/at the surface level with high winds that are feeding and fanning the fires in Southern California.
Warning verbiage:
